Gurugram: MCG commissioner orders officials to ensure construction sites follow GRAP norms

GURUGRAM: MCG commissioner Mukesh Kumar Ahuja has directed officials to ensure that all construction sites in the city adopt a dust mitigation mechanism and register on the state dust control portal if their area is more than 500 square metres (sqm). The move comes in the wake of the deterioration of the city’s air quality.

In a meeting held on Wednesday, officials were also asked to ensure that constriction is stopped at the sites that haven’t registered on the portal. According to the corporation, it is mandatory for all construction sites to have smog guns and other equipment for dust mitigation.

The MCG chief told officials to ensure that horticulture waste from all the areas is lifted and disposed of before Diwali. Besides mechanical sweeping of roads, manual sweeping will also be done along with sprinkling of water, officials said.

The horticulture wing was directed to provide necessary tankers and the department will also share the list of tankers deployed. “As the air quality has deteriorated, the second phase of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) has set in. We were directed to ensure that diesel generators don’t operate. Officials were told to make every effort to keep the air quality index under ,” said MCG spokesperson SS Rohilla.

The civic body has also been imposing penalties for violations of GRAP norms. Since October 1, when GRAP kicked in, MCG has issued 22 challans amounting to Rs 2.9 lakh.