A recent inspection by the Central Pollution Control Board under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) has flagged gaps in implementation of Delhi’s anti-pollution measures, calling for better fund utilisation and coverage of Delhi’s pollution hotspots, a new RTI reply accessed by activist Amit Gupta shows.Below 75% fund utilisation: CPCB pulls up Delhi on NCAP gapsThe reply said the inspection was carried out on May 6 by CPCB nodal officer Sundaram, who reviewed the status of Delhi’s NCAP action plan and implementation of pollution-control measures across the city. The report noted that footpath pavement work, greenery and operation of mechanical road sweeping machines at select locations, including Naya Marg and Krishna Menon Marg. While these were found satisfactory during field visits. However, CPCB observed hotspots need more attention.“Work done at the visited sites were found satisfactory, but the city needs to target all hotspot locations for air quality improvement,” said the report, adding Delhi also needs to improve fund utilisation under NCAP.While the report did not specify how much funds had been used so far by Delhi, out of the total allocated under NCAP, it said utilisation was below 75% at present.It further observed that action taken by urban local bodies on suggestions made during previous inspections were implemented but “not that much effectively”.Data on the Centre’s NCAP portal shows ₹81.36 crore has been allocated by the Centre between 2019-20 and 2026-27, only ₹27 crore has been spent so far.“Delhi may have shown visible project execution at selected sites, but CPCB says broader implementation and accountability gaps continue to affect pollution-control outcomes,” Gupta said.The NCAP was launched by the Centre in January 2019 for 131 cities that did not meet the NAAQS (national ambient air quality standards) between 2011 and 2015. Setting 2017 as the base year, the Union had said these cities needed to improve their annual PM 10 levels by 20-30% by 2024.This initial deadline was later extended to 2026, by which time the concentration is to come down by 40%. Till January 2024, Delhi had only been able to bring down its PM 10 concentration by 12% -- falling short of the first NCAP deadline.