Ahmedabad struggles to improve air quality despite ₹548-crore pollution fund, alleges opposition

Even after spending ₹548 crore over the past five years on air quality control, the city’s pollution levels continue to rise, according to opposition leaders in the Amdavad Municipal Corporation (AMC).

In recent days, the city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) has hovered around 200 – a level considered poor and potentially harmful to health. Critics argue that much of the money meant to curb pollution is instead being diverted to other projects.

At a recent board meeting, opposition corporators claimed that 149 of the corporation’s senior officials and office-bearers, including the mayor, deputy mayor, and standing committee chairmen, still drive non-electric vehicles, despite pushing strict pollution rules on citizens.

They pointed out further inconsistencies: while citizens are urged to adopt electric vehicles or install solar panels, the municipal corporation itself does not fully practice what it preaches. Most of its own vehicles remain non-electric, and the majority of its buildings are not equipped with solar panels.

Meanwhile, almost ₹2,000 crore is being spent annually on resurfacing roads and building new infrastructure yet half of the grant allotted under the air quality programme is reportedly being used for these road-related works, rather than strictly pollution control.

Opposition members also raised concerns that surrounding towns Gandhinagar, Bavla, Sanand, and Kalol are receiving grants to improve air quality, even though Ahmedabad, with its own pollution problems, has not shown significant improvement. The standing committee chair responded that the grant distribution follows allocations made by the state government.

On public transport, the city’s efforts appear slow. AMTS, Ahmedabad’s bus service, has only 5 electric buses out of 1,020, while BRTS has 235 electric buses. In addition, among the 1,900 waste-collection vehicles used by the municipality, none are electric.

According to the corporation’s breakdown of grant spending:

2024–25: ₹96 crore on roads and footpaths

₹30 crore on green cover and roadside cleaning

₹50 crore to develop new gardens

₹10 crore for electric-vehicle charging stations

₹6 crore to redesign junctions with free left turns

2025–26 (planned):

₹50 crore for road and footpath works

₹12 crore to build AMTS EV charging stations

₹18 crore allocated for improving air quality in Gandhinagar, Bavla, Sanand, and Kalol

Opposition corporators argued that despite this allocation, real pollution control via electric vehicles in municipal use and solar power in municipal buildings has been largely ignored.