NEW DELHI: Delhi government has launched an anti-dust campaign from October 7-29 to control dust emissions from construction sites and thereby combat rising air pollution, Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai said on Wednesday.
Rai also said the government would launch an online portal on Thursday to self-audit and manage Construction & Demolition (C&D) waste. The state government issued a public notice making it mandatory from Thursday onwards for private and government contractors to comply with the 14 norms laid out for construction sites to control dust emissions.
The norms include covering construction materials, installing anti-smog guns and dust/wind breaking walls to appropriate height around the boundary walls of the site. "Under the campaign, 31 teams have been formed to carry out inspections for any violation of norms. Of these, 17 constitute the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) while 14 are of green marshals from the Green War Room," Rai said.
He added that this is the time for on-ground action. "Our teams will conduct inspections at construction sites. The first phase will run from October 7-29. Our teams were trained to identify violations and report them on Green Delhi app for registering pollution-related complaints," he said.
As per the National Green Tribunal (NGT) guidelines, a fine between Rs 10,000 to Rs 5 lakh could be imposed for violation of rules depending on the size of construction sites. "Through the portal, all construction agencies will have to comply with the checklist and conduct self-audits on it. The website will be linked with the DPCC war room and help to curb dust pollution," said Rai.