Odisha government to spend Rs 150 crore for clean air programme in five years

BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government has planned to spend Rs 150 crore under the new State Clean Air Programme (SCAP) and strive to achieve at least 40 per cent reduction in pollution level in urban areas in the next five years.

The details in this regard were discussed during the 10th meeting of the state Air Quality Monitoring Committee (AQMC) on Saturday. Chairing the AQMC meeting, ACS Forest Satyabrata Sahu reviewed the details of the SCAP, state’s own clean air programme, launched by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on June 5.The state government has included 12 cities and towns – Sambalpur, Berhampur, Puri, Paradip, Keonjhar, Joda, Barbil, Bonai, Rajgangpur, Jharsuguda, Brajarajnagar and Belpahar – in this programme in the first phase.

The meeting was informed that fund of Rs 150 crore will be spent for the programme in the next five years in which efforts will be made to bring down the levels of PM10 and PM2.5, the most prominent pollutants in air, by around 40 per centThe programme will be implemented by the Forest department based on the monitoring data of the last five years. “The proposal for grant of funds for SCAP has already been submitted to the Finance department and and its approval is now being awaited,” said a senior forest official, privy with the development. He said the meeting also reviewed the scores of different urban areas in the Swachh Vayu Survekshan for 2023-24 and 2024- 25. Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Angul have received the highest final score in 2024-25, while Kalinga Nagar