Ghaziabad : State govt has sanctioned Rs 122 crore to Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation to check dust pollution as air quality has been deteriorating within the ‘poor’ category since the beginning of this month.




A GMC official said the amount will be used to attend to 2,100 km of road stretches, including landscaping, patchwork on potholed roads and perforated interlocking tiles across the zones.




In Mohan Nagar zone, work will be carried out on 25 road stretches, which include Harsh Vihar, DLF and Bhopura. In Vijay Nagar zone, 11 stretches will be taken up, including Akbarpur-Behrampur and Pratap Vihar along NH9.




In Kavinagar zone, the corporation will carry out 11 works at Kavinagar Ramlila Ground, Sanjay Nagar and Industrial area, while in Vasundhara zone, the corporation will carry out nine works in sectors 2, 4, 6, 9, 10 and 12, and in Indirapuram, work will be taken up in Shakti Khand 3 and Abhay Khand 4. In the city zone, five stretches will be taken up, including Navyug Market.




“Apart from using water sprinklers, GMC is also planning to employ drone-mounted water sprinklers to control dust pollution. The civic body has been in talks with a drone company that specialises in such tasks. It will be a first-of-a-kind initiative in the city as drones bypass ground obstacles to hover directly over localised dust plumes, active demolition zones or tall stockpiles,” added the official.




Moreover, in a move to curb road dust, a major contributor to air pollution in Delhi-NCR , particularly during winter, the Centre has asked Delhi and the three adjoining NCR states to include medians and road shoulders in road construction and repair works. This was one of the over a dozen directions that were issued to all agencies dealing with air pollution in NCR following a recent meeting that cabinet secretary T V Somanathan chaired, TOI had reported. The states have also been directed to complete pending procurement of mechanised road sweepers by the end of this month.




Meanwhile, with an AQI of 238 on Tuesday, Ghaziabad was the most polluted city in the country. The Sanjay Nagar and Wave City pollution monitoring stations breached the 300 mark and recorded air quality in the ‘very poor’ category. According to CPCB , only five cities — Ghaziabad, Gajraula, Baghpat, Dombivli and Munger — out of 252 cities remained in the ‘poor’ category. The AQIs in Noida and Greater Noida, on the other hand, were recorded at 189 and 153, respectively, which are in the ‘moderate’ category.