To combat air and dust pollution in the national capital, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is implementing a series of significant measures, including managing dust pollution from roads and open areas, establishing dedicated C&D waste collection sites, and greenery and plantation programmes.

Additionally, there is a special emphasis on optimising the use of mechanized road sweeping machines, implementing effective manual road sweeping, and utilizing water sprinklers to suppress dust particles.

“Specially to mitigate dust pollution, interlocking pave blocks will be installed for development and improvement of parking surface area at 7 MCD parking sites in Shahdara south Zone and one in Najafgarh Zone,” the civic body said on Thursday.

Furthermore, the MCD is also undertaking maintenance of unpaved roads, broken roads, and potholes as part of its efforts to combat dust pollution.

The civic agency has deployed 52 Mechanical Road Sweepers (MRS) to carry out sweeping on PWD roads. Also deployed 225 water sprinklers including 28 mobile anti-smog guns (ASGs) on various roads to abate dust pollution.

The MCD has installed 20 anti-smog guns at various facilities of MCD like C&D plants, SLF, WTE etc.

A total of 15 anti-smog guns have been installed at identified High rise buildings of MCD which are currently functional. On 32 construction sites (C&D sites), 95 anti-smog guns are installed by project proponents and are regularly inspected by dedicated teams of zones (Building department).

To curb dust pollution & tackle the rising construction and demolition (C&D) waste, MCD has also taken proactive initiatives. The focus is on identifying key C & D waste collection points, curbing illegal dumping, and educating citizens on responsible waste disposal. Corporation has identified 68 strategic C& D waste collection points and set up 42 operationalised collection sites in the zones

The Horticulture Department of MCD has also taken up greening of Open areas, Gardens, Municipal Buildings, Roads, underneath of Flyovers to provide maximum greenery to control road dust through mass tree/shrub plantation, ground covers, climbers etc.

The MCD has planted 122884 trees and 310710 shrubs in its jurisdiction for the period April 2023 to February 2024 which will help in reducing air pollution.

Regular meetings are held consistently to monitor and implement the measures and advisories issued by CAQM/DPCC to control and mitigate dust pollution.