The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change vide its press release dated 4th January 2021, in order to abate dust and related air pollution from the construction and demolition activities, has directed the Central Pollution Control Board, the State Pollution Control Boards of Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee to constitute special teams and launch inspection drives in the premises, processes and transportation of materials related to Construction &Demolition(C&D) activities in the NCR.
The Intensive drives were conducted by these agencies from 24th December to 31st December 2021 by constituting about 227 teams. These teams carried out surprise checks and inspections at more than 3000 C&D sites of which about 386 sites were found to be non-compliant with the various C&D Waste Management Rules / Guidelines and dust mitigation measures stipulated by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Central Pollution Control Board. Further, an amount of approx. Rs.1.59 crore was levied as environment compensation against the defaulting agencies besides orders for stoppage of work at 12 locations.
Further, the inspection is planned to be continued to enforce compliance of the C&D waste management rules and related guidelines to abate dust pollution from C&D sector, which contributes significantly to poor air quality in the region.
