The Ghaziabad administration is all geared up to combat pollution. The district magistrate on Monday asked all government agencies to be on war mode and stressed on sprinkling of water and use of anti-smog guns at construction sites to bring down pollution levels.
The Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB), on its part, has asked industries to submit affidavits of different compliances.
The directions were issued to Ghaziabad Development Authority, Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation, UP Housing Board, National Highways Authority of India and National Capital Region Transport Corporation, after DM Ajay Shankar Pandey convened a meeting of pollution control board officials and from the administration ahead of implementation of graded response action plan (GRAP) in Delhi-NCR from Thursday.
“The agencies and departments have been directed to control dust pollution at all their construction sites through measures like water sprinkling and installation of anti-smog guns, failing which offenders will be punished,” said Pandey. “Restaurants and hotels have been asked to switch over to PNG and LPG, as energy and coal burning will remain banned, while RWAs have been directed to provide room heaters to all their guards.”
Regional officer of UPPCB, Utsav Sharma said, “There are over 250 industries which come under polluting category and they have been asked to switch to cleaner energy sources and the use of traditional fuel sources like per coke and furnace oil remains banned. Failure to comply with the order will invite penalty and closure. The industry body has been asked to submit an affidavit in this regard.”
The use of gensets will also remain banned from October 15, when GRP kicks in. The UPCB has also identified at least 50 pollution hotspots, which includes 17 affected by vehicular pollution and 10 where construction activities are going on. Industrial areas in Sahibabad, GT Road, Meerut Road, Loni Road and Dasna are among the industry pollution hot spots. Construction pollution hot spots include Siddharth Vihar, Vasundhara, Loni Road, Raj Nagar Extension, NH-9 and Delhi-Meerut Road. “The identification of pollution hotspots has given us a headway in our fight against pollution because these areas have been placed under radar and round-the-clock surveillance of these areas have been planned,” Sharma added.
