PUNE: The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has issued notices to owners of 221 construction sites for violating pollution norms in the last one-and-a-half months and recovered a fine of Rs 31.4 lakh.
The action was taken during its ongoing drive against construction firms after the civic body adopted the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to combat pollution in the twin cities.
In addition, stop-work notices were issued to two firms that failed to pay fines or comply with the pollution norms despite receiving the notices, said a PCMC official.
Pimpri Chinchwad has reported alarming pollution levels in some pockets for the last few months, with the air quality between 150 and 200 (AQI). Rapid urbanisation in areas like Punawale, Tathawade, Moshi and Chikhali is being blamed for the increasing pollution levels.
A senior PCMC official stated that construction firms are expected to follow all the guidelines of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to mitigate dust.
“During the visits, civic teams observed that measures like installing a green or safety net and washing the tyres of transport vehicles or trucks were not taken, following which owners of these construction sites were served notices and fines were imposed,” he said.
Earlier, the civic body also proposed to increase the fine amount on construction firms from Rs10 per square metre to Rs100 per square metre under GRAP.
Civic officials, however, said they are yet to implement the new fines.
According to PCMC data, areas that fall under ‘D’ ward — Punawale, Tathawade and Wakad — recorded the highest number of violators, with around Rs14 lakh fines recovered from these areas.
“We have formed a dedicated team to act against violators of pollution norms. These teams recovered a fine of Rs30,000 from construction sites for violation in the last month,” an official from PCMC’s environment department said.
