Maharashtra to spend maximum clean air funds on e-transport

MUMBAI: The Government of Maharashtra has planned to spend its bulk of funds under Clean Air initiative for electrifying public transport under Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy 2021. Clean air funding was obtained under the 15^th Finance Commission. The EV policy aims to include around 1,46,000 new battery-operated electric vehicles on the roads of Maharashtra by 2025, which will be 10 per cent of all new vehicles registrations by the time.

The state has been allocated a total of Rs 2981 crore to address the climate woes in the state, as per the recommendations of 15^th Finance Commission. Out of the total Rs 2773 crore of funds that the state is planning to spend by 2025, 80 per cent of it will be utilised for EV policy, specifically electric buses in urban clusters. The rest Rs 555 crore will be used for local interventions, for improving the air quality of state, such as implementing dust control measures (8%), regulating construction (4%), and regulating industries (2%), etc.

V M Motghare, Joint Director (Air Quality), Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, said that as vehicular emissions are the leading cause of air pollution, the authority has decided to use maximum funds for electrification of public transport in six urban clusters such as Greater Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Vasai-Virar.

This step saw mixed reactions from the experts as on one hand, some say that it is a strategic move whereas others are of the opinion that allotting a large amount of funds to a macro-level policy will wipe local resources to fight air pollution.