E-Paper
16 Noida contractors fined in October by UPPCB
Noida: The Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) has slapped a penalty of ₹50,000 each on 16 Noida authority contractors in October for irresponsible construction
Noida: The Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) has slapped a penalty of ₹50,000 each on 16 Noida authority contractors in October for irresponsible construction activities that caused air pollution, officials said on Thursday.
The officials said that a total of 92 incidents were found in violation of environment norms and were penalised between October 3 and 30. Of them, 16 incidents involved contractors of the authority.
The UPPCB has imposed a total penalty of ₹51.80 lakh on the violators, while a penalty of ₹50,000 each was imposed on the Noida authority contractors doing construction works at a number of places, including sectors 21-A, 57, 62, 63, 65, 71, 136 and 150.
“There were several violations. We have spared no one, be it an individual, a builder or a Noida authority contractor,” said Anil Kumar Singh, regional officer, UPPCB, Noida.
He said that the contractors of the Noida authority were found to be working in violation of norms despite being sensitised about the dust generation and means to curb it.
“We have held a number of meetings and sensitisation workshops for the contractors working for the Noida authority. In most of the incidents, we found only labourers working while the contractors or supervisors were not present at the spot,” Singh added.
Noida authority officials said that they are going to take strict action against such contractors who are found responsible for causing pollution.
“We are acting tough and have issued orders to all the senior managers to reprimand all such contractors who are found violating the NGT norms. The authority will take strict action against such contractors,” said Rajiv Tyagi, general manager, Noida authority.
Given the deteriorating air quality in the region, a number of restrictions have been permanently imposed on the construction activities that include covering building material, sand and soil at construction sites to avoid dust generation. However, additional restrictions are imposed on the construction activities under graded response action plan (GRAP) when the air quality turns ‘very poor’ or ‘severe’.
Officials said that in the wake of the current air quality that has been ‘severe’ for three days in a row, the working window for all construction activities has been decreased from 6am to 6pm earlier to 10am to 6pm till November 2.
“All the potential dust generating activities like stone crushing, construction, hot mix plants, etc will be shut from 6pm to 10am till November 2. After that, the orders will be revised based on the air quality,” said Singh.
