Gzb tops list of complaints related to unpaved roads, dust and traffic congestion

Ghaziabad

Ghaziabad has topped the list of complaints in NCR related to unpaved roads, road dust and traffic congestion during October 7 to November 21, according to Central Pollution Control Board’s ‘air quality winter inspections (2019-20)’.

Of the 2,900 complaints/violations reported to the CPCB during the period, Ghaziabad came out on top with 11.6% complaints of unpaved roads, 11.5% that of road dust and another 5.6% pertaining to traffic congestion. The city has remained the worst in the three categories in the NCR during the period October 7 to October 27 and October 7 to November 3 as well, as per the CPCB data.

The residents said that the three issues affect them directly when they are on the move.

“Most of the roads are unpaved in Ghaziabad and there is lot of dust on roads due to construciton vehicles moving on roads. The traffic congestion is also a major issue which has been persisting for long. The three factors affect people directly as pollution levels have remained high in the city. Water sprinkling and mechanised road sweeping are hardly showing any concrete results,” said Akash Vashishtha, a city based environmentalist and a lawyer.

Ghaziabad has been the most polluted city in the country on several days since October 15. The city topped the CPCB’s AQI list on October 16 and 24, from October 27 to 31, barring October 28, on November 2 and then again on November 14 and 15. The trend continued on November 19, 20, 21 and 22 — for four consecutive days.

“The large number of complaints related to these three issues are taken up for speedy resolution. The corporation has been directed by the district magistrate to take up unpaved roads in Sahibabad which is a pollution hotspot identified by CPCB. The DM has given similar instructions to other agencies but the work could not be initiated as there is a ban on construction activities by the Supreme Court,” said Utsav Sharma, regional officer of UP pollution control board.

“For addressing traffic congestion, the traffic cops will deploy 20 additional personnel in Sahibabad and 10 in Kaushambi area within a week. Out of the list of 28 garbage sites in Sahibabad, which was given to corporation, they had taken action and cleaned up all sites by November 21. The resolution of road dust issue is related to unpaved roads and will come down once the paving of roads start,” he added.

On November 25, the AQI in Ghaziabad improved to become “poor” category due to presence of strong winds which helped in faster dispersal of pollutants. The three cities in the region, Ghaziabad, Greater Noida and Noida were also in the “poor” category with AQI values of 255, 234 and 236, respectively.

The officials of the Indian Meteorological Department said on Sunday that the wind speed is likely to increase to 15-20 kmph on November 25 -27 with possibility of light rains.

With high levels of pollution in the national Capital, the Supreme Court during a hearing on Monday lashed out at the Centre and the state governments for their failure to do anything to improve the quality of air.