GURUGRAM: One day after the city witnessed a short-lived respite with ‘moderate’ air, the air quality again dipped to the ‘poor’ category with no expected improvement. Continued construction activities, despite the enforcement of stage 4 restrictions under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) across Delhi-NCR, only added to the woes. It continues in areas such as Sushant Lok, sectors 30, 51, 28, and 44.
Due to their smaller scale of operations, house redevelopment and expansion sites often evade getting caught. Additionally, construction waste is dumped along roadsides, and workers are busy grinding stones. A fine layer of dust covers everything — buildings, trees, vehicles, and even the workers who continue working without dust masks.
The air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 226 (poor) on Tuesday. At a reading of 267, Teri Gram was the worst hit, followed by Sector 51 (254), and Gwalpahari (247) — all in the ‘poor’ category. The monitoring station at Vikas Sadan recorded a ‘moderate’ AQI of 108.
Most construction sites operating despite the ban in Gurgaon do not follow the basic guidelines of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, including shuttering the construction area with green sheets, sprinkling water, and covering vehicles carrying construction and demolition (C&D) waste. As a result, their immediate vicinity has turned into dust bowls.
“Seasons change throughout the year, but what remains constant are the lanes covered in dust. Nobody cares about the health of residents. The civic bodies do not visit the sectors to check whether the construction activities have stopped given the GRAP orders,” said Sector 45 resident Amit Yadav.
Rohit Rai, a resident of Sushant Lok, said, “Construction activities continue at night in residential areas, which also violates the norms. The sites do not have any covers to stop dust from dispersing. The HSPCB officials keep a tab on the large construction sites but the smaller ones operate without any checks.”
Though the norms are very clear, most of the sites that TOI visited were found transporting construction material in trucks without covering. The truck wheels were not washed, thus carrying dust outside of the premises. C&D waste was seen dumped along the roadsides, and stone grinding was being carried out in the open.
The authorities, meanwhile, claimed they are taking measures to mitigate air pollution. “We are taking action against sites that are more than 20,000sqm in area. Smaller sites are under the jurisdiction of MCG. The civic agencies have been asked to ensure that their sites follow the norms,” said Vijay Chaudhary, HSPCB regional officer of Gurgaon.
