Ghaziabad starts with basic GRAP measures

Ghaziabad: On Tuesday, a day when emergency measures under the graded response action plan (Grap) came into force in Delhi-NCR region, the different departments

Ghaziabad: On Tuesday, a day when emergency measures under the graded response action plan (Grap) came into force in Delhi-NCR region, the different departments in Ghaziabad said they have started with basic pollution abatement measures such as road sweeping and water sprinkling to tackle dust, but limited resources were hampering their efforts.

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According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the air quality index (AQI) for Ghaziabad and Greater Noida on Tuesday surged to 308 and 302, respectively, both in the ‘very poor’ category, while Noida remained a level better, in the ‘poor’ category with a reading of 297.

The officials of different agencies said they have roped in water tankers to control dust while the Ghaziabad municipal corporation is the only agency in Ghaziabad which has mechanised road sweeping machines with it.

“We have roped in six mechanised road sweeping machines which will daily cover road stretches up to 100km, while 15 water tankers have also been roped in to cover stretches of about 90km a day. Our major thrust is on enforcement against garbage burning and on ensuring that the construction site norms are followed at our work sites,” Dinesh Chandra, municipal commissioner, said.

“We have roped in eight water tankers which are sprinkling water throughout the day. The green covers are also being put up around different under-construction stretches to prevent dust from flying,” RP Singh, project director (NHAI), said.

“With the resources available, we are getting covered the construction sites and have roped in two water tankers full-time to cover about 194km of road length in Khoda,” KK Bhadana, executive officer, Khoda Nagar Palika, said.

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