Ghaziabad municipal corporation proposes ₹80 cr project to ‘dust proof’ 30 roads

The proposal involves dust-proofing the roads and also involves some works related to strengthening and related to drainage

Ghaziabad: To tackle the rising air pollution in Ghaziabad, the municipal corporation has proposed to “dust proof” 30 different major roads across the city and the sides of the roads on both sides will be paved with the help of tiles, officials said.

The proposal will be put forward in an upcoming meeting to be held for clearing works with the help of infrastructure development funds. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The proposal involves 30 major roads across Ghaziabad, and some of these stretches include the roads from Mohan Nagar crossing to Sahibabad railway station and Chikambarpur to Apsara Border near Delhi; roads leading from Vasundhara Sector 5, Vaishali sector 1, Vaishali Sector 3f, in Vijay Nagar; and the road from Raj Nagar District Centre flyover to Thakurdwara and further to Meerut crossing, among others, they added.

“The proposal involves dust-proofing the roads and also some works related to strengthening and related to drainage. The dust-proofing will be done with the help of paving the roadsides with tiles. This will help the emission of dust during the passage of vehicles. So, we expect that the air pollution levels will also come down as a result,” NK Chaudhary, chief engineer of the corporation, told HT.

Officials said that the works would amount to about ₹80 crore.

“The proposal will be put forward in an upcoming meeting to be held for clearing works with the help of infrastructure development funds. Once approved, the plan would take about 6-7 months to get completed. The entire proposal involves funds to the tune of about ₹80 crore,” he added.

The pollution levels of PM10 and PM2.5 have remained higher than the standard limits in Ghaziabad during previous years.

“Instead of spending huge funds on installing tiles alongside the roads, the corporation should consider paving it with grass. This will be cost effective and will also help in high recharge of groundwater,” said Sushil Raghav, a city-based environmentalist.

According to the official statistics provided by the UP Pollution Control Board, the city experienced annual average PM10 levels of 243, 221, 185, 174, and 170 micrograms per cubic metre during the years 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, respectively.

Likewise, the annual average PM2.5 levels stood at 116, 93, 78, 80, and 82 during the years 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, respectively.

The standard limit for PM10 and PM2.5 as per the Central Pollution Control Board standards, is 100 and 60 micrograms per cubic metre, respectively.