According to Air Quality Management (CAQM), The Air pollution is drastically increasing due to bad weather and a sudden rise in farm fires and CAQM thinks it's important to start Stage III of GRAP right away. SAFAR, A forecasting agency under the union ministry of Earth Science said that portion of burning in Delhi Pollution rose by 21% on Saturday, The Highest This year so far.
Under stage III, the authorities have been asked to put a strict ban on construction and demolition in the NCR, except for essential projects and non-polluting activities like plumbing, carpentry, interior decorating, and electrical works, earthwork for excavation, boring and drilling; fabrication and welding operations; loading and unloading of construction material; transfer of raw material, including fly ash, either manually or through conveyor belts and vehicular movement on unpaved roads. It also bans the operation of batching plants; laying of sewer lines, waterline, drainage work and electric cabling through open trench system; cutting and fixing of tiles, stones and other flooring materials; grinding activities; piling work; water proofing work; road construction, real estate contruction and repair works, including paving of sidewalks, pathways and central verges among others. Authorities in the NCR have been asked to shut down industries that don't use approved fuels in industrial areas with PNG infrastructure and supply.
The restrictions will not be applicable on essential projects concerning national security, defence, railways and metro rail among others.
We got together with the PWD, MCD, Railways, DDA, and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, which are all involved in building in the capital, to talk about the problem. "We have decided to put the ban on building and tearing down in the city into effect," the minister said. To make sure that the directions are followed, the government has set up a strong monitoring system. He said that 586 teams made up of people from different departments have been set up. These teams will monitor the implementation of the ban on construction and demolition activities.
On Saturday, Lt. Governor Saxena asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to rethink the "Red light on, Gaadi off" campaign. He sent back the file and questioned the effectiveness of such a "ad hoc" measure. Environment Minister Gopal Rai said that the Delhi government will answer all of the LG's questions and send the file back to him for approval.A source said that the LG was against the "inhuman" and "exploitative" use of Civil Defence Volunteers (CDVs) at very dirty traffic intersections and sites.
Even though CAQM's GRAP-3 regulations put a stop to all construction work on Saturday with immediate effect, the restrictions had a very small effect on the first day. Even though major road construction was put on hold, private construction kept going as usual. Spot checks in places like Sector 7, Sadar Bazaar, Pataudi road, and New Railway Road showed that many contractors didn't know about the ban and were waiting for instructions from their bosses and city officials.
