Construction ban to continue, projects related to health, public to resume

The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Friday allowed some exemptions to the construction ban that was put in place across the National Capital Region (NCR) to curb toxic air pollution levels. However, the panel has left all other provisions of the ban in place till further review.

The Commission exempted health care-related projects, such as the construction of hospitals, nursing homes or other health care facilities; all “linear public projects” such as highways, roads, flyovers, over bridges, power transmission, pipelines etc; sanitation and public utility projects, such as sewage treatment plants, water pumping stations etc; and ancillary activities related to these exempted categories.

Earlier, projects related to railways, airports,inter-state bus terminals, Metro and work pertaining to national security and importance, were the sole exemptions to the ban.

“The exemptions are subject to strict compliance of the construction and demolition waste management rules, dust prevention and control norms including compliance with the directions of the Commission issued from time to time in this regard,” the pollution monitoring panel’s order said.

On November 16, on the directions of the Supreme Court, the CAQM banned construction and demolition activities across Delhi and NCR, along with calling in other curbs on polluting sources such as banning the entry of trucks into the national capital, except those carrying essential items.

It also ordered action against industries operating on unclean fuels and allowing only scheduled operations for thermal power plants.

Experts said monitoring bodies will need to keep a watch on exempted sites to ensure all dust control guidelines are followed.