Why Are Delhi, Noida And Jaipur Choking Despite Billions For Air Pollution?

By Surabhi Gupta

New Delhi: Every winter, Delhi struggles with severe air pollution and emergency steps like GRAP, but how well is the clean-air money being used? Did you know that these funds are distributed across 12 MCD offices and the NDMC, yet only about 17% has been spent so far?

₹19,808 crore, that is the scale of India’s national clean-air push under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), a flagship initiative by India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), launched in 2019 to change how 130 of the country’s most polluted cities breathe.

Yet, city-level data emerging from Delhi, Noida, Jaipur and Alwar shows a sobering reality: while money has been sanctioned in large numbers, the way it is released, spent and linked to real air quality outcomes remains deeply uneven.

As per the ResGov report, India’s National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) has earmarked ₹19,808 crore between FY 2019-20 and FY 2025-26, but city-level data shows only part of that money is actually reaching and being used by cities. Of the total outlay, ₹13,415 crore (68%) has been released till December 2025, while ₹8,147 crore (73% of releases) had been utilised till FY 2024-25. Strikingly, 67% of all spending has gone into road dust control, raising questions about whether funds are addressing the full range of pollution sources.

Pritika Malhotra, one of the researchers who did the study, told ETV Bharat, “Delays in the release of funds to cities often affect spending. Identifying procedural bottlenecks and strengthening the capacity of officials involved to identify pollution sources and plan interventions will help improve spending.”

Last month, Delhi and Noida frequently topped pollution charts as the most polluted cities in the National Capital Region (NCR), highlighting how, even after six years of NCAP, the region continues to choke through winter smog, construction dust and traffic fumes.

At the national level, according to ResGov researchers tracking NCAP spending, of the ₹19,808 crore earmarked for the programme, only a part has actually translated into action on the ground.

The headline numbers suggest movement, but city-wise breakdowns reveal why air quality on the ground remains stubbornly poor.

Avani Kapur, another researcher involved in this study, told ETV Bharat, “There are several organisations and citizens that are keen to help solve the pollution crisis. The Government's PRANA portal is commendable because it gives real-time information on releases and utilisations. However, detailed city-wise data on utilisation will help support innovation and facilitate the sharing of best practices across cities.”

Delhi: Big Pollution, Small Slice Of What It Could Have Been

Between FY 2020-21 and FY 2025-26, Delhi was approved ₹113 crore under NCAP. That is only 54 per cent of what the city could have received had it fully met the allocation ratio and performance-linked criteria laid down under the programme.

Under NCAP rules, cities receive money based on:

• Population and pollution levels
• Whether they meet performance benchmarks such as source apportionment, action plan implementation and measurable improvement in air quality

Delhi’s relatively low approval reflects its inability to consistently meet these performance targets, even though it remains one of the most polluted urban regions in the country.

Despite billions being spent on mechanical road sweeping, water sprinkling, smog guns, traffic management and green buffers, Delhi’s PM10 and PM2.5 levels continue to violate both Indian and World Health Organization standards. Worse, the programme’s own planning framework for Delhi is based on outdated science.

The ResGov report notes that Delhi still relies largely on a source apportionment study completed in 2018, which used data collected between 2016 and 2017. A real-time study was submitted in 2023, but it was never formally approved, meaning pollution control planning in 2025 is still guided by data that is nearly a decade old.

In a city where vehicle fleets, construction activity and industrial patterns have changed dramatically since 2017, this disconnect between current pollution sources and old data has major consequences for how NCAP money is spent.

Noida: Years Of Neglect, Then A Late Spending Rush

If Delhi reflects a struggle between scale and performance, Noida exposes a different weakness of NCAP: delayed and narrow spending.

Between FY 2020-21 and FY 2025-26, Noida was allocated ₹127 crore under NCAP. But as of January 4, 2026:

• Only ₹56 crore (44%) had been released
• And just ₹30 crore, around 24% of the total allocation, had been utilised

For most of the programme’s life, the money simply sat unused.

Between FY 2020-21 and FY 2024-25, Noida spent only ₹3 crore, all of it on road dust control, including water sprinklers, mechanised sweepers and anti-smog guns. Spending rose only in 2025-26, but detailed break-ups of that spending are not publicly available.

This is striking because Noida’s own clean air action plan lists:

• Vehicles
• Road dust
• Construction
• Industries
• Garbage burning
• Agricultural waste burning

as its major pollution sources. Yet for years, almost 100 per cent of NCAP money was directed only at dust control, ignoring traffic emissions, industrial clusters and waste burning that dominate the city’s pollution profile.

Has Noida’s Air Improved? On paper, yes, but not enough. PM10 levels in Noida fell from 229 µg/m³ in FY 2017-18 to 155 µg/m³ in FY 2024-25, a 32 per cent reduction. But even after this improvement:

• The city missed its annual PM10 targets for four straight years from FY 2021-22 to FY 2024-25
• And pollution levels remain more than double India’s legal limit of 60 µg/m³, and ten times the WHO guideline

In other words, Noida is “less dirty” than before, but still far from clean.

Jaipur And Alwar: The Dust-Heavy Spending Trap

A similar pattern appears in Jaipur and Alwar in Rajasthan.

Jaipur, a million-plus city, has received large sums through the 15th Finance Commission’s urban air quality fund. But nearly 97 per cent of its spending has gone into road dust and construction control, with only token amounts spent on waste management and public awareness, and almost nothing on vehicles or industry.

Alwar, a smaller non-attainment city, presents an even starker case. Between FY 2020-21 and FY 2025-26:

• ₹46 crore was allocated
• ₹26 crore was released
• ₹22 crore was spent

Of that, 95 per cent went into road dust and construction-related activities, even though source apportionment studies show that vehicles and waste burning together contribute more than a quarter of the city’s pollution load.

PM10 in Alwar fell from 152 µg/m³ in 2017-18 to 108 µg/m³ in 2024-25, but the city still remains nearly twice India’s standard and far above WHO limits.

A National Programme, But With Narrow Solutions

Across Delhi, Noida, Jaipur and Alwar, one trend dominates: NCAP money overwhelmingly flows to dust control and road works.

This happens because:

• Dust control delivers quick, visible PM10 reductions, which help cities meet performance benchmarks
• More complex reforms, such as electrifying transport, regulating industries or fixing waste burning, require coordination, enforcement and political capital

The performance-linked nature of NCAP ends up rewarding short-term optics over long-term transformation.

As a result, India can point to falling PM10 numbers in some years, but Delhi and Noida still top pollution rankings, and residents continue to breathe toxic air every winter.

Operation Clean Air Exposes The Reality

This funding disconnect became visible on the ground also this week when the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) carried out inspections across NDMC areas of Delhi under “Operation Clean Air.”

Eleven CAQM flying squads covered Chanakyapuri, Sarojini Nagar, Connaught Place, Janpath, Parliament Street, Ashoka Road, Pragati Maidan and India Gate, conducting 54 inspections.

They found Biomass and municipal waste burning at 18 locations and MSW dumping at 35 locations.

Biomass burning was mostly seen near tea stalls and shops for heating, while garbage was found dumped near collection points and in secluded public spaces, exactly the kind of sites that later turn into open fire hotspots.

CAQM also inspected 400 road stretches across the NCR, finding 47 with high dust levels and 105 with medium dust, despite years of dust-control spending.

Geo-tagged photographic evidence has now been submitted to the commission, which has directed stricter waste lifting and enforcement.

What Experts Say?

Environmentalist B S Vohra told ETV Bharat, “Despite being one of the world’s most polluted capital cities, Delhi has under-utilised NCAP funds. Crores meant for air-pollution control have remained idle due to administrative delays, weak planning, slow approvals and poor execution. This gap between available funding and on-ground action undermines clean-air goals and public health.”

The Bigger Warning

With ₹19,808 crore earmarked, ₹13,415 crore released and thousands of crores already spent, NCAP is no longer an experiment; it is one of India’s largest environmental investments.

But the ResGov data and CAQM’s inspections tell the same story: Money is flowing, but it is not flowing where it matters most.

Unless NCAP moves beyond dust control, updates pollution science and forces cities to confront vehicles, industries, and waste burning, Delhi, Noida, and much of the NCR will continue to breathe toxic air, regardless of how many crores are allocated.