Delhi govt to run anti-dust campaign under Winter Action Plan
Oct 06, 2023
New Delhi [India], October 6 : The Delhi government is set to conduct an anti-dust campaign from October 7 to November 7 under the 'Winter action plan', an official statement said.
Under this campaign, 591 teams from 13 departments have been deployed for inspection across Delhi. Along with this, it is mandatory to do self-registration of all construction sites above 500 square meters on the C&D portal, the statement said.
Orders have been issued to all the departments for continuous inspection of C&D sites and to take action on violations of the 14 construction rules at these construction sites. To prevent dust pollution, 82 Mechanical Road Sweeping (MRS) machines, 530 water sprinklers and 258 mobile anti-smog guns are being deployed, it added.
The decision was taken in a meeting presided over by Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Thursday.
"Air pollution in Delhi is improving steadily due to the stringent steps taken by the Delhi government under the leadership of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The government's efforts have resulted in a decline of 30% in air pollution levels in Delhi. Consequently, to address the issue of pollution during the winter months, the Chief Minister unveiled a 15-point winter action plan on 29 September. To bring further improvement in air pollution in Delhi, as a part of the winter action plan, our government is starting the anti-dust campaign in Delhi from 7th October", said Minister Rai.
The Environment Minister also said, "Dust pollution arising from construction sites proves to be very harmful to the health of the people. To address this issue, the Construction and Demolition Portal was introduced. All construction sites that cover an area of 500 square meters or more are required to self-register on this portal. The aim of this campaign is to ensure that all active C&D sites are registered on the portal. DPCC will examine the self-assessment reports of all registered sites on the portal."
Gopal Rai also said that instructions have been issued to the departments to continuously monitor the construction sites. To achieve this, the relevant departments have been instructed to monitor construction sites regularly.
"If construction sites violate any rules, the department will take appropriate action as per the NGT directions", he added.
