Stepping up its attack on the BJP-led government at the Centre over the issue of air pollution, the Congress on Monday demanded that the “anti-people” environmental law amendments made in the past 10 years by the ruling dispensation be rolled back.

Congress General Secretary in-charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh said, “Among the lesser-known tragedies of the non-biological PM’s reign is the rapidly deteriorating air quality nationally and the inattentiveness and policy chaos that has characterised the Government’s response to it.”

He claimed that in early July, a study published in the Lancet journal showed that 7.2 per cent of all deaths in India are associated with air pollution.

“In mid-July, a study by the Centre for Science and Environment revealed that the Government’s interventions in pollution control are poorly designed, with the National Clean Air Program (NCAP) largely focused on mitigating road dust rather than industrial, vehicular, and biomass emissions – the source of PM 2.5 – that are the leading causes of mortality,” Ramesh said.

The Congress MP further said, “To make matters worse, in the last five years, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has left more than 75 per cent of the Environment Protection Charge (EPC) and Environmental Compensation (EC) funds unspent. In total, Rs 665.75 crore have been left unutilised.”

Claiming that on 29th July, upon being asked a question about the Lancet study, he said, “The Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change made the shocking claim in the Rajya Sabha that there was ‘no conclusive data’ to directly correlate air pollution and deaths.”

“This Government’s modus operandi is to deny that there is a real air pollution-linked mortality problem, underfund programs targeted at mitigating pollution, fail to utilise the resources that it allocates, and misuse the funds that do get spent,” Ramesh said.

Suggesting various steps the Centre should take, the MP said, “The first step must be to acknowledge the public health crisis linked to air pollution across wide swathes of India. Consequently, given this crisis, we must revisit and totally revamp both the Air Pollution (Control and Prevention) Act of 1981 and the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) put into effect in November 2009.”

“The Government must drastically increase the funds made available under the NCAP. The current budget, inclusive of NCAP funding and the 15th Finance Commission’s grants, is about Rs 10,500 crore, spread across 131 cities. Our cities need at least 10-20 times more funding – NCAP must be made a Rs 25,000 crore program,” he said.

Among other steps, he suggested also included National Green Tribunal’s independence, and the “anti-people” environmental law amendments made in the past 10 years must be rolled back.