The apex pollution regulator recently invited
New Delhi: Authorities in Delhi have over Rs 1,500 crore, collected as green fund to combat air pollution, lying largely unused, even as the national capital struggles to ward off a toxic haze..5 crore is being used in setting up pollution monitoring centres across NCR. Subsequently, running them does not entail much expenditure," the official said.
The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) collects the ECC and hands over the amount to the citys transport department every Friday, Usman Nasim, a researcher with the Centre For Science and Environment (CSE), said.However, it could not be immediately confirmed as to how many electric buses the government is planning to buy and the amount required to do so.The CPCB plans to use a part of its green fund, collected prewinder as the diesel cess, for conducting studies on improvement and management of air quality in the region, while around Rs 2. Over the years, it has assumed a substantial size and stands at around Rs 500 crore currently, Nasim said.
Moreover, around Rs 120 crore from the ECC corpus will also be used to install radio-frequency identification devices (RFID) on trucks for effective and credible collection of levy and the ECC, according to a 2016 Supreme Court order.According to the EOI document, the projects will have to focus on areas such as the health impact of air pollution and on possible steps to create awareness among the masses by installing LED panels displaying pollution levels among others.The cess on diesel was announced by the Sheila Dikshit government in December 2007 as part of its efforts to control air pollution due to vehicular emissions.
E-buses are very costly upfront and need to be subsidised in the first phase.When contacted, a senior transport department official of the Delhi government said that only on Tuesday a decision has been taken to use the fund to subsidise the procurement of electric buses."We will use the fund for electric mobility.The apex pollution regulator recently invited Expression of Interest (EOI) and proposals for such studies, which, it said will lay major emphasis on boosting its pollution monitoring infrastructure.The lions share of the amount - Rs 1,003 crore (till November 10) - comes from an Environment Compensation Charge (ECC) imposed by the Supreme Court in 2015 on trucks entering Delhi while the rest is made up of cess on every litre of diesel sold, in effect since 2008.The corpus, known as Air Ambience Fund, is maintained by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC).The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has amassed Rs 62 crore as one per cent cess from dealers selling diesel cars with engine capacity of 2000 cc and above in the Delhi-NCR region following a directive of the Supreme Court in August last year
The consultants will be in a better position
MMRDA will implement the scheme under UMMTA, which has approved the proposal.Discussions were held earlier this month regarding the single ticket system under Unified Mumbai Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMMTA) and accordingly, a draft Request for Proposal (RPF) was prepared for the same. Consultants will also act as Project Management Consultants (PMC) for successful implementation of the project," the MMRDA official added.By next year, citizens will be able to carry a single smart card for all modes of transport as against the different cards they have to currently carry. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) will invite tenders for appointment of consultants for the "Integrated Ticketing System" in Mumbai and Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The cost of about Rs 5.45 crore too will be covered under the budget provision of UMMTA."The objective of appointing consultants becomes essential as they will guide us in preparation of bid process management and also help us in finalising the architecture and specifications of technology to be used for the system.In October, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had said that public transport in Mumbai must be integrated..London’s "Oyster card" which is a form of electronic ticketing and can be used for public transport, including underground Metro, buses, railway trains, trams, boats and also United Kingdom’s national rail services.
The consultants will be in a better position to help us in selecting vendors for the same."After this system is introduced, Metro, Monorail (including the upcoming phase-2), public bus transportation like that of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), Thane Municipal Transportation (TMT), Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT), and the suburban local train network will be included for now, and other modes of transport like taxi, auto-rickshaw and also for parking around the city will be included later," said a MMRDA official.
"We were waiting for the Super ELF Centre to indicate about the same as they had introduced a similar project of National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) in April 2012, but as the scheme is still in model stage, it’s not possible to implement in any state and so, we came out with a project of our own," said the MMRDA official