(Image credits: PTI)
NEW DELHI: World Bank on Wednesday approved financing for two major clean air programs in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to help improve air quality and strengthen both states as attractive business destinations.”Air pollution is causing severe health impacts, loss of productivity and reduced quality of life across South Asia,” said Paul Procee, Acting Country Director, World Bank India. He said the operations mark the first airshed-based, multi-sectoral programs taken up by Indian state governments to address air pollution. “The programs will also demonstrate how air quality initiatives can increase productivity and create green jobs, especially for youth and women,” he added.The Uttar Pradesh Clean Air Management Program (UPCAMP), backed by $299.66 million, will expand the state’s Clean Air Plan with investments across transport, agriculture and industry. It aims to provide clean cooking access to 3.9 million households and promote clean mobility by deploying 15,000 electric three-wheelers and 500 electric buses in Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi and Gorakhpur. The program will also support incentives to replace 13,500 polluting heavy-duty vehicles. According to task team leaders, UPCAMP will promote better farming practices, help MSMEs adopt cleaner technologies and encourage e-mobility in urban centres.Haryana’s Clean Air Project for Sustainable Development Operation, supported by $300 million, will implement multisectoral measures under the state’s Action Plan. The project will invest in air quality and emissions monitoring and expand clean transport options such as electric buses and electric three-wheelers in Gurugram, Sonipat and Faridabad. It targets emissions across key sectors and aims to mobilise more than $127 million in private capital.In November, the state slipped into the red zone of India’s air quality map, with no district meeting the national annual PM2.5 standard. The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) has identified Haryana as a significant pollution hotspot in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Gurugram is among seven districts in the state that rank within India’s 50 most polluted, with PM2.5 levels at least twice—and in some cases nearly three times—above the annual national safety limit.Both state programs form part of the World Bank’s Regional Air Quality Management Program in the Indo-Gangetic Plains and Himalayan Foothills. They are supported by grants from the Resilient Asia Program and the Energy Sector Management Assessment Program. The Uttar Pradesh program has a final maturity of 10 years with a two-year grace period, while the Haryana program has a maturity of 23.5 years and a six-year grace period, the Bank said.
