Construction banned in NCR till Dec 26 as pollution rises

The air quality index (AQI) in the city was 303 (‘very poor’) on Monday, while Delhi, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad were in the ‘severe’ category with around 450 on the AQI bulletin.

With air quality in the national capital region (NCR) remaining in the ‘severe’ category for more than 48 hours, the Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) on Monday issued orders calling for a ban on all construction activities in NCR citie, including Gurugram, till December 26. Other pollution control measures were also ordered, including better traffic management and diversion of bypassable traffic to peripheral roads.

Pollution-control measures were recommended by the CPCB task force in its 41st meeting on Monday (Yogendra Kumar/HT PHOTO)

These steps were recommended by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) task force in its 41st meeting on Monday morning, with EPCA chairman Bhure Lal signing off on the suggestions within a couple of hours.

While officials in the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), district administration, traffic police and Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) had not received the order till late on Monday, MCG’s nodal officer for implementation of the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap), Munish Sharma, said he would make sure all steps were complied with at the earliest.

“We will follow the EPCA’s recommendations in both letter and spirit, as we did previously during Diwali,” Sharma said. He said that other Grap measures, such as water sprinkling and road sweeping, have been proactively underway. A November inspection by the CPCB had placed Gurugram at the bottom of its list with respect to Grap implementation, but, efforts have since been stepped up, Sharma said.

The air quality index (AQI) in the city was 303 (‘very poor’) on Monday, while Delhi, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad were in the ‘severe’ category with around 450 on the AQI bulletin.

In fact, Noida, Ghaziabad and Greater Noida had the worst air quality in the country.

Hindustan Times has reported earlier that experts believe Gurugram’s AQI data is flawed on two counts—the manner in which AQI is calculated and the accuracy of the data itself.

Low wind speed of about 4kmph and low temperatures ensured poor dispersal of airborne pollutants, a situation which is likely to persist till Wednesday, according to the IMD. However, a scientist at CPCB, who was present at Monday’s task force meeting but did not wish to be identified, said, “Wind speed is likely to pick up in the afternoon on December 26.”