Five UP cities to get funds for improving environment

Lucknow: Five cities in Uttar Pradesh -- Agra, Kanpur, Varanasi, Ghaziabad and Meerut -- will get a Rs 255.12 crore push from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change for improving quality of life as well as environment.

The Centre's aid to Uttar Pradesh cities is part of the Modi government's push for improving overall standards of living in cities that have a million plus population.

A key aspect of this is to help reduce the level of particulate matter 10 (PM10) concentration. The five Uttar Pradesh cities selected for the Centre's push have been identified for doing well on this front in 2023-24, as per a government spokesman.

The funds would be utilised for dust control, checking industries that create pollution, encouraging plantation and public transport.

PM10 is referred to as inhalable particles with diameters that are 10 micrometres or less.