Construction sites in Noida flout rules, but no action yet: Residents

NOIDA: A group of residents have flagged several violations of pollution norms at construction sites in the city and written to the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), seeking its intervention.

The residents alleged they hadn’t received any response from the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board despite several tweets on the violations.

“Winters are approaching and every year, we deal with toxic air levels. There are hardly 15-20 days of good air. However, there doesn’t seem to be any action on the violations at construction sites. Dust is a huge problem at most of these sites. They are neither covered nor is water sprinkled there,” said Amit Gupta, the complainant and member of the Progressive Community Foundation.

Gupta further said that contractors of the Noida Authority had damaged several roads. “They simply dig up the road for repairing pipelines and other maintenance work and leave it in that condition for days. Mechanical sweeping is only done on paper. We hardly get to see these machines,” he added.

UPPCB officials in Noida said checks were done every time they received a complaint and violators were fined too for causing air pollution. Sources said UPPCB was short-staffed and had been working at half its capacity for years.