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Gurugram civic body to focus on checking violations of Grap norms
In a bid to curb air pollution, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) on Wednesday decided to focus on checking violations of Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) norms and amplify its surveillance over industries and factories
In a bid to curb air pollution, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) on Wednesday decided to focus on checking violations of Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) norms and amplify its surveillance over industries and factories.
The decision was taken a day after Gurugram deputy commissioner Yash Garg directed various government agencies, including the MCG, during a Grap review meeting to augment their anti-pollution measures.
The corporation is also planning to increase the frequency of water sprinkling on roads.
“Grap activities such as water sprinkling and mechanised sweeping have been happening since October 15. Now, we are assessing if more such machines can be procured for the purpose or if the frequency of the existing ones can be increased. We will be taking a final call on this by the end of this week,” said Subhash Yadav, district forest officer who is also nodal officer of environment and sustainability wing of the MCG.
For water sprinkling activities, MCG has a total of 30 tractors and eight fire tenders. Each vehicle operates for an eight-hour period in which 16,000 litres of treated water is dispersed over a 14km stretch, the officials said. The civic body also has 13 mechanised sweeping machines.
Yadav said that the MCG has also decided to intensify action against Grap violations. “Teams have been instructed to keep a greater surveillance on Grap violations and issue fines against violators. Further, we have also directed officials to keep a check on factories and industries, and accordingly, fine their owners with heavy penalties if they are found to be flouting norms,” said Yadav.
As per an official release issued by the MCG on Wednesday, from October 15 till November 23, the civic body has issued a cumulative fine of ₹17.14 lakh against 162 violators. The fines were imposed on the violators for dumping and burning of garbage in the open, transporting construction material without cover and using plastic, the officials said.
In Tuesday’s meeting, Garg had also directed MCG to fix potholes across the city as it will help mitigate dust pollution.
On Wednesday, the MCG’s engineering wing set a deadline of December 15 to fix potholes in the city. “Earlier, the MCG had set a November 30 target for fixing potholes. However, due to the construction bans, it has been revised to December 15. Tenders for most stretches have been allocated and we are also in the process of procuring jet patcher machines which will expedite filling of potholes,” said a senior MCG official privy to the matter.
