Sunil Dahiya, Senior Campaigner, Greenpeace India
“The budget looks like a mixed bag ;
- It shows promises to strengthen the public transport sector adding 3000 (1000 each for CNG, Electric and Cluster) new buses to the fleet along with creating associated enabling infrastructure.
- The push towards electric vehicles both in public transportation and their intent to shift large two wheelers base to EV shows promise that we have started thinking about reducing our oil dependence.
- Publicly sharing the pollution levels data on screens and forecasting system along with real-time source apportionment to be completed in the coming FY year is a good move.
- Good to see emission reduction targets to tackle air pollution in 2018-19 budget
It is promising to see such emphasis on Air Pollution in the Green Budget but what remains is the implementation of these announcements along with some more concrete focus on changing our energy consumption and mobility behaviour which are not fueled by polluting fuels of past, i.e., Coal and Oil and we move towards technology of future which is renewable energy at all levels.”
Pujarini Sen, Campaigner, Climate and Energy, Greenpeace India :
Where the Green Budget is weak is with regards to renewable energy. The proposed budget is rehashing old promises like net metering and generation based incentives. In both these aspects there have been little progress in the past years. There is only a year left for the earmarked period for generation based incentives, yet the Government has not done enough to promote the policy or solar. A strong promotional push is required from their side urgently.
In 2017, their RPO performance was only 5.5% as reported by Greenpeace earlier. Given the continued poor performance in this regard, buying 1000 MW of green/solar power is a much required step, which comes better late than never. But given the state’s poor roll out of solar so far, despite having released a strong policy 2 years ago, we will need to keep a close eye on implementation post this budget, to see whether or not it delivers. Solar over cycling tracks is a novel thought, as is agri-solar. The center has also announced schemes on agri-solar in its budget, and hopefully in Delhi, given the state Govt’s announcements now, there will be a stronger push towards this. But without effective implementation, this will not “trickle up” as the Government intends.
Implementing the renewable energy commitments are going to be critical towards reducing air pollution in the state and the country. We hope the government is serious this time around.
For further details-
Avinash Kumar; Senior Communication Specialist;
Greenpeace India; [email protected]; 8882153664
Madhulika Verma; Senior Media Specialist;
Greenpeace India; [email protected] 9971137736
Pujarini Sen; Campaigner, Climate and Energy;
Greenpeace India; [email protected]; 8586016050
Sunil Dahiya; Senior Campaigner,
Greenpeace India; [email protected]; 9013673250
Discussion
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