Delhi: Work halted at 25 sites over dust

NEW DELHI: Cracking down on public and private utility agencies, including Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and public works department (PWD), for failing to take required measures to curb dust pollution, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has stopped construction at 25 sites across the city.
CPCB’s notices were sent to big government and private agencies last week. It stopped works at seven construction sites of the PWD, four of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), three each of DMRC and BSES, two of DDA and one each of Delhi Jal Board and MTNL among others.

“These companies cannot resume their works at these sites until and unless they take adequate measures to stop dust pollution”, said the Union environment secretary C K Mishra on Thursday - the day Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi recorded 99 (satisfactory level) after a long time. The action is important as it gives some bite to the regulations formulated by the central government to control dust at construction sites. Dust is a major contributor to Delhi pollution along with vehicular emissions and stubble burning. In fact, it is a significant contributor to the poor quality of Delhi’s air.

Twenty-three of these sites belong to government agencies while the remaining two are of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL). The CPCB has, for the first, issued such notices stopping the works of these agencies for violating rules of dust mitigation measures. The rules were notified for this purpose under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 on January 25.

Though the current meteorological conditions (wind speed and rains) contributed in leading Delhi’s AQI to fall below 100, Mishra also attributed the ‘satisfactory’ range to a number of measures taken by different agencies collectively in the city, including tough actions against dust pollution and waste burning.

The notices, issued by the CPCB chairman S P S Parihar, emphasised that all the civil works involving construction and demolition activities at these sites cannot be resumed until and unless “strict implementation of the rules and guidelines for management of construction and demolition activities” is ensured by these agencies.

The dust mitigation rules, notified on January 25, are meant for all cities and towns across the country where the hazardous particulate matters (PM10 and PM2.5) exceed prescribed limits. Many big cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chandigarh and Kanpur among others fall in this category. The notified rules inserted 11-point measures in the existing EP Act, empowering CPCB to issue notices against local authorities, state agencies and private companies for non-implementation of necessary dust mitigation actions.