Noida: Image of district will be hit if you don’t follow pollution norms, officials tell realtors

With pollution season here and high monetary penalties on contractors not helping, a high-level meeting of officials from Greater Noida and Noida authorities, district

With pollution season here and high monetary penalties on contractors not helping, a high-level meeting of officials from Greater Noida and Noida authorities, district administration and the police department tried to impress upon them that the image of the district would take a hit if they did not take responsibility.

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At the same time, officials said they would not shy away from taking strict action.

The Greater Noida authority on Tuesday imposed ₹1.25 crore penalty against the 25 realtors for pollution norms violations, a day earlier it had slapped ₹97 lakh penalty against nine realtors. The Noida authority imposed ₹50,000 penalty against three persons on Tuesday. However, officials on the ground said the violations continued unabated.

“We have realised that imposing the penalty against the developers are not going to achieve any results until the realtors willingly follow the guidelines. Noida and Greater Noida are International cities with world class infrastructure projects including airport at Jewar and attracting investment in big projects. Rise in Air pollution will damage the brand image of the city and have negative repercussions on every business. So we need to work together to protect the image,” said Greater Noida authority chief executive officer (CEO) Narendra Bhooshan who chaired the meeting.

Gautam Budh Nagar’s police commissioner Alok Singh and district magistrate Suhas LY, Yamuna Expressway industrial development authority (Yedia) CEO Arun Vir Singh and representatives from at least 30 real estate firms attended the meeting in Greater Noida authority’s sector Knowledge Park-IV administrative office.

According to the NGT’s construction guidelines construction material should not be left uncovered, when ferried they should be covered a sheet, large construction sites should be surrounded by plantation to keep dust under check and anti-smog guns had to be installed at all sites spread over 20,000 square meter-plot.

“All the realtors or others engaged in construction need to adhere to these rules. Also, we will enforce traffic rules through strict enforcement to minimise the pollution that is caused due to traffic congestion. Vehicles such as tractor or others violating rules will face action,” said Alok Singh police commissioner of Gautam Budh Nagar.

“We have made it clear to the realtors, industrial unit owners and others that they should comply or face strict action. If construction sites, which are operational without workable smog guns need to be shut or face severe action. We have requested everybody in meeting that follow rules or be prepared to face action from different agencies be it administration or UPPCB,” said Suhas LY district magistrate Gautam Budh Nagar.

The developers said they are ready to follow the rules.

“We have installed anti-smog guns at our sites so that the air pollution that is caused due to construction activity can be contained. We have assured the officials that all realtors will follow to rules and do their bit to mitigate air pollution,” said RK Arora president of national real estate council Uttar Pradesh chapter.

“We have appealed to all realtors to follow national green tribunal guidelines. And all realtors are already very serious on implementation of the rules of NGT,” said Prashant Tiwari president of confederation of real estate developers association of India (CREDAI).