The Delhi government will run an anti-dust campaign in the city from 7 to 29 October. Announcing this, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Wednesday that it was mandatory for all to implement 14 norms laid out for construction activity on all sites in Delhi from tomorrow.

A public notice has also been issued in this regard. Thirty-one teams have been formed under the anti-dust campaign — 17 teams of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and 14 teams of Green War Room’s Green Marshals.

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He said as per the NGT guidelines, a fine ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 5 lakh would be imposed for violation of rules at construction sites. An online portal will be launched for self-auditing and management of C&D waste.

Gopal Rai said, “CM Arvind Kejriwal had recently announced the 10-point Winter Action Plan. The Environment Department is now working on mission mode to implement that plan. We had run an anti-dust campaign in Delhi last year as well and saw its impact in controlling dust pollution.

On the basis of our experience last year, we have prepared a robust plan for running this campaign in an organised manner throughout Delhi. For this purpose, all the government agencies of Delhi which take up construction work were called for a meeting on 14 September. Private agencies were called for a meeting on 17 September as well. We had discussed a 14-point agenda with them.

Post-this, on 21 and 22 September, public notices were published informing the guidelines. On 2 October, everyone was given a reminder. We have decided that now is the time for on-ground action.”

The government’s teams will conduct inspections on construction sites and monitor the situation. The first phase of this campaign will be run from tomorrow onwards till 29 October. A total of 31 teams have been formed for this purpose. Out of these, 17 teams of DPCC engineers will work across various districts and 14 teams of Green Marshals will work with mobile vans, he added.

Rai pointed out, “In case we observe that any department is not taking suitable action, then a show-cause notice will be issued to them. In case the department is unable to clarify the show cause within two days, it will be penalised. If pollution still persists due to that activity, then the DPCC may direct its shutting down for the time being.”