With air quality in Delhi-NCR touching the ‘severe’ mark over the last few days, the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) has stepped up efforts to reduce air pollution at its construction sites using anti-smog guns and water sprinklers.
"As the AQI in Delhi-NCR region worsens, we have intensified our efforts to curb air pollution from the construction work at Anand Vihar, one of busiest areas in Delhi. We have already installed 20 sprinkler guns and six anti-smog guns. We are trying to add at least 30 more sprinkler guns to bring the total number up to 50," Punith Vats, chief public relation officer (CPRO), NCRTC told Moneycontrol.
The NCRTC is building India's first Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS), a rail-based, high-speed, high-frequency regional commuter transit system, between Delhi and Meerut. One of Delhi's main transportation hubs, Anand Vihar is home to the Vir Haqiqat Rai ISBT, the UPSRTC stand, and two metro lines.
The company has been using pre-cast segments for construction to minimise air and noise pollution. Additional measures like truck washing plants are being used to control the dust and pollution caused by construction work. To trap the flying dust, water is being sprinkled from water tankers at the construction site, an NCRTC statement said.
Mobile vehicles for the water sprinkling have also been deployed at the site, and Vats said the company is planning to install more along the construction corridor.
"We have formed a task force comprising four senior NCRTC engineers and officials. They will monitor and implement the pollution control measures," Vats added.
NCRTC said it has intensified its mechanised or vacuum sweeping of roads near the construction sites for dust control.
"The requirement for in-situ construction is minimum at this site. Moreover, the muck extracted from the tunnels is wet; also the site is mostly wet. Hence, the chances of dust pollution at the site are minimal," NCRTC said in the statement.
Once operational, RRTS will act as a transportation backbone for the entire NCR. The first RRTS corridor alone is expected to reduce vehicular congestion with more than one lakh vehicles going off the roads and will help reduce air pollution with more than 2.5 lakh tonnes of carbon dioxide in vehicular emissions coming down.
Delhi's air quality improved marginally on November 2 due to relatively better meteorological conditions, with the Commission for Air Quality Management saying there is no immediate need to implement curbs, such as a ban on the entry of trucks and closure of educational institutions, under the fourth stage of the Graded Response Action Plan.
SAFAR, a forecasting agency under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, said the share of stubble burning in Delhi's PM2.5 pollution increased to 32 percent due to favourable transport-level wind speed.
Earlier, addressing a press conference, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said the impact of air pollution was not limited to the national capital and the situation was equally bad in other National Capital Region (NCR) cities such as Ghaziabad (AQI 332), Noida (339), Gurugram (310), Greater Noida (336) and Faridabad (346).
Along with unfavourable meteorological conditions, paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana is a major cause behind the rise in the air pollution levels in the national capital in October and November.
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