Air pollution review for non-attainment cities: UP directs Ghaziabad to control PM10, Noida to ensure smooth flow of traffic

Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday recognised traffic and construction as the two main sources of pollution in Noida and Ghaziabad and directed officials to direct their attention

Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday recognised traffic and construction as the two main sources of pollution in Noida and Ghaziabad and directed officials to direct their attention to solving these issues.

HT Image

Sudhir Garg, UP principal secretary (forests), reviewed the pollution scenario with officials of 16 non-attainment cities in the state that have been consistently violating air quality standards.

Pollution levels have spiked in October with coarse particulate matter PM10 and ultrafine particulate matter PM2.5 emerging as primary pollutants.

“With regards to Ghaziabad, the principal secretary has directed that we should make more efforts to check PM10 levels that has large number of local sources. He has directed us to keep check on road dust as well as take up repair of broken roads besides keeping tab on construction sites as well,” said Utsav Sharma, Ghaziabad regional officer of the UP-pollution control board. “Our monitoring stations at Loni and Indirapuram are primarily affected due to construction. We said that there is strict watch on such activities especially with respect to the Delhi Meerut Expressway and Regional Rapid Transit System. The corporation also told that they have initiated work of road dust collection in dust bags and the scheme has been gaining momentum.”

The officials said that they also gave details to the principal secretary about the installation of CCTV cameras at construction sites over area of 20,000 square metres and above.

“So far, we have got CCTV controls of eight out of 34 construction sites and verification process is on for sites that have completed their self-audit as directed by the UPPCB. Out of about 75 air polluting industrial units, we have CCTV camera controls of 39 units. In case, the CCTVs are not readied by end of October, we will start levying penalties,” Sharma said.

During the video-conferencing on Tuesday, the principal secretary also issued directions to the UPPCB officials of Noida.

“We have been asked to maintain smooth flow of traffic wherever road construction/repair works are taken up. The principal secretary told that there should be alternate routes which should be made available for smooth passage of traffic in case some road is getting constructed. Besides, we have been told to intensify water sprinkling as well as take up proper garbage management in order to control pollution,” said Praveen Kumar, regional officer of the UPPCB, Noida.