Developed world should do more to check climate change: India

Ravi Shanker Kapoor |

India has urged the developed world to declare its enhanced action plan for the second period of Kyoto Protocol. Speaking on the eve of his departure for New York for the signing of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Environment, Forest & Climate Change Prakash Javadekar in New Delhi on Tuesday that mobilizing $100 billion is still at the stage of discussion and no concrete action plan has been laid out.

India has levied a Clean Environment Cess of $6 (Rs 400) per tonne on coal, he said, adding that if the developed world follows India in taxing its coal production, $100 billion can be raised. He also said that the developed world must provide technological support to the developing nations in the fight against Climate Change.

Javadekar will also attend the meeting of Major Economies Forum on April 23-24, 2016.

Laying out the details of India’s action on climate change after the Paris Agreement, he said that 175 gigawatt of renewable energy has been targeted by 2022, out of which 40 GW capacity had already been achieved by March 2016. Further, the government has decided to leapfrog from Bharat Stage IV (BS-IV) to BS-VI emission norms by April 1, 2020, thereby skipping the BS-V emission norms altogether.

“The government has taken a decision to promote blending of ethanol with petrol and its use as an alternative fuel and has also taken a decision to tax SUVs and diesel vehicles,” the Minister said, adding that 93 million LED bulbs had been distributed till April 12, 2016. This has resulted in energy savings of more than 33.3 million kwh every day

Emphasizing the initiatives taken by the government on adaptation front, the Minister stated that farmers can get their inefficient agricultural pumps sets free of cost replaced with energy efficient pumps.

Speaking on the issue of pollution of lakes in Bengaluru, Javadekar said that his Ministry has issued directions under Section 5 and Section 18 of the Environment Protection Act on pollution of lakes in Bengaluru. The Minister said that the Centre has extended an assistance of Rs 800 crore under the AMRUT scheme for cleaning up the lakes in Bengaluru. Out of this, Rs 500 crore is for laying down a 74 km trunk sewage pipeline. He also said that Rs 162 crore has been provided to construct four sewage treatment plant (STPs) in Bellandur lake. The Minister stated that 1280 MLDs of sewage are generated per day in Bengaluru, while the capacity to treat sewage is 721 MLD. Out of this, 600 MLD of sewage is actually treated. He also pointed out that of the 520 STPs, 137 STPs are non-functional.

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