Ashram Chowk: Snarls, noise, now dust

Residents near Ashram Chowk, already forced to live with vehicular emissions, snarls and noise pollution round the clock, are now being choked by dust pollution, which they say has gotten worse over the past five months.

Residents near Ashram Chowk, already forced to live with vehicular emissions, snarls and noise pollution round the clock, are now being choked by dust pollution, which they say has gotten worse over the past five months.

Dust pollution near the under construction underpass at Ashram Chowk in New Delhi, India, on Tuesday, October 6, 2020. (Arvind Yadav/HT PHOTO)

Naseema (55), who has lived near the busy intersection on the Delhi-Mathura Road -- one of the busiest arterial roads in the national capital -- for over 18 years, said she is finding it difficult to breathe these days. Since the past five months, a thin patina of dust has settled on every corner of her house and remains impervious to her attempts to clean it.

“It is difficult to breathe and it will only get worse. There is so much dust that I have to clean my house three times a day,” said Naseema, while adding that winter is coming -- a season when Delhi’s air quality touches alarming lows owing to local emissions, weather conditions and stubble burning in neighbouring states, among other factors.

Much of the dust, residents say, is due to the ongoing underpass construction at the intersection that started in January this year. The public works department (PWD) is building the underpass to ease traffic at this junction, which is an important link between central and south Delhi and the satellite towns of Noida and Faridabad. The Delhi Police estimates that at least 11,600 vehicles cross the intersection every hour.

Work on the underpass was moving at a snail’s pace since it started -- first due to the Delhi assembly elections, then the north-east Delhi riots and then the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown. But once the restrictions were eased in May, work is on in full swing, a senior PWD official said.

Lokesh Kumar, a security guard deployed at the gate of NAFED’s building, said hardly any measure is being taken to control the dust at the underpass site.

“I shudder each time a bus crosses the intersection as it throws up a plume of dust. There are only a few mounds of debris and sand kept covered there. Everything else is open and strewn about. Even water sprinkling does not happen regularly,” Kumar said.

A senior PWD official, on condition of anonymity, said the contractor of the project has been asked to ensure all dust-control measures are undertaken. “Last week, we received complaints of high dust pollution in the area. So, we directed the contractor to comply with all norms or face action. A slew of measures was taken after that and debris along the intersection were covered up,” the official claimed.

Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said with measures already being taken to contain pollution hot spots, there are several stretches whose condition is similar to that of Ashram Chowk -- heavy dust pollution has been reported from these places, either owing to unpaved roads or from ongoing construction work.

“Dust-control norms are the most basic of measures that agencies need to take while undertaking any work. The government needs to make construction agencies accountable by making it mandatory in the contract itself to take dust control and soil stabilisation measures as well as having a post-construction restoration strategy. Also, there has to be strong surveillance and monitoring to ensure that norms are not flouted. A system has to be put in place for this,” she said.

Roychowdhury said instead of building more roads and flyovers, what the government needs to focus on is the reduction of traffic volume. “It is a global experience that any capacity enhancement for traffic ( new roads, bridges) will quickly be saturated. This means that it is a losing battle. The government has to work on reducing traffic volume by scaling up public transport, putting in place a parking policy and creating pedestrian and cycling spaces on an urgent basis,” she said.