C&D waste, industrial units choke Noida, Greater Noida

76 water tankers were deployed and an area of 177sqkm was covered by water sprinklers on Wednesday, while 393 tonnes of C&) waste was lifted

A day after the air quality in Noida and Greater Noida plummeted with an air quality reading of 329 and 375, respectively, both in the “very poor” category, on Tuesday, the Gautam Budh Nagar administration swung into action on Wednesday and deployed water tankers, fined polluters, and lifted nearly 300 tonnes of construction and demolition (C&D) waste.

The air quality had dropped to the season’s lowest yet owing to heavy vehicular movement and indiscriminate dumping of (C&D) waste, said district officials. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

The air quality had dropped to the season’s lowest yet owing to heavy vehicular movement and indiscriminate dumping of (C&D) waste, said district officials.

They said as many as 76 water tankers were deployed and an area of 177sqkm was covered by water sprinklers on Wednesday, while 393 tonnes of (C&D) waste was lifted from parts of the city in the past 24 hours to mitigate pollution.

Noida’s total land area is 20,000 hectares, and the total length of its peripheral roads is 231km, and that of internal roads is 701.1km, according to official data.

On the directions of district magistrate Manish Kumar Verma, 14 teams from the Noida authority inspected 120 locations in the city and levied fines of ₹11,65,000 for violating Grap (Graded Action Response Plan) stage 1 and 2 guidelines, said officials.

Aside from that, the health department deployed 12 mechanical sweeping machines that swept a road length of 340km covering prominent stretches, while 66 anti-smog gun machines were deployed to clean the air, officials said.

Grap lists several pollution abatement measures to be taken when pollution levels increase in Delhi and the National Capital Region.

According to the AQI scale, readings between 0 and 50 are considered “good”, 51 and 100 are “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 are “moderate”, 201 and 300 are “poor”, 301 and 400 are “very poor”, and 401 and 500 are “severe”.

“Noida is witnessing higher pollution levels because the Sector 62 monitoring station is surrounded by the densely urbanised Khoda. Aside from that, the National Highway 24 (NH-24) is just three to four kilometres from the monitoring station and it witnesses heavy vehicular movement round-the-clock. Metrological factors such as wind speed, and construction and demolition activities are also responsible for the drop in air quality,” said Utsav Sharma, regional officer in Noida of the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB).

Although the AQI improved slightly on Wednesday, from 329 to 312 in Noida, and from 375 to 354 in Greater Noida, but remained in the “very poor” category, with PM (particulate matter) 2.5 being the most prominent pollutant, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

“Efforts are being made to alleviate air pollution in the city and the authority has been conducting various exercises such as dust mitigation measures. The 121 locations inspected on Wednesday for violations of Grap guidelines included rural parts of Gautam Budh Nagar,” said Lokesh M, chief executive officer, Noida authority.

An environmental compensation fee of ₹11,65,000 was imposed on people for violating Grap rules on Tuesday, including keeping concrete waste uncovered, not carrying out water sprinkling at construction sites, not using green nets at construction sites, etc, said officials, adding that enforcement will be intensified in the coming days.

The air quality of Greater Noida has been reeling under ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ category since a month, owing to construction works in Greater Noida West and rampant violations of Grap rules.

According to Vikrant Tongad, a local environmental expert, Greater Noida is an industrial hub with huge industrial units. Besides, construction work in Knowledge Park 5 area has also added to air pollution as the area is close to AQI monitoring station of UPPCB, Tongad added.