Operation at construction sites is banned by the state pollution control boards

Haryana State Pollution Control Board has banned construction activities at unregistered sites unless they register themselves on the web portal of pollution control.

Construction work has been banned under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

There are around 3,000 large construction sites in Gurgaon, but only 5%, with an area of 500 square meters or above have been registered on the portal for dust control.

After the plan was revoked, Haryana State Pollution Control Board decided to ban the construction activities at the remaining units. They will be able to operate after registering on the dust control web portal.

HSPCB said that no large construction sites have installed the sensors so far. Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) directed that such sites are also required to install PM2.5 and PM10 sensors to send a live feed to the portal.

HSPCB regional officer Kuldeep Singh said that they have issued notices to all the large units and won’t allow developers to do any construction activity if they disobey the norms, such sites should register themselves at the earliest.

Also, Kuldeep Singh said, “the construction activities at these projects will be forestalled by imposing penalties and prosecuting them to the environmental court. They are responsible for polluting the environment.”

The pollution control board has formed six teams with 3 members in each for inspecting. No penalty has been imposed on any construction and demolition site to date, but HSPCB will impose challans on violators. A portal for real-time monitoring of pollution on C&D sites had been launched by Haryana in January.  CAQM directed on October 1, 2021, to launch a portal with a live dashboard to reflect ambient air quality status at specific sites.

CAQM direction said in the statement that all the projects of demolition or construction with an area equal to or more than 500 square meters in NCR are required to register at the web portal. Additionally, video fencing should be facilitated and equipped with remote connectivity will be incorporated into the web portal to monitor all the day and night compliances of dust mitigation measures by the project proponents. Also, reliable and economical PM2.5 and PM10 sensors are required to be installed at the sites and connecting them to a platform with live dashboard accessibility for the pollution control board to monitor activities.

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