The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) on Wednesday said it has issued 30 challans totaling Rs 15 lakh to violators for dust pollution, in a bid to control air pollution.

The civic body said it is taking intensive measures to control air pollution in New Delhi.

“A team of officers under the control of the Director (EBR), NDMC has constituted inspection of construction sites for enforcing dust mitigation measures. As many as 30 challans of Rs 50,000 each (total Rs 15,00,000) have been issued as per the Guidelines of National Green Tribunal (NGT) against the violators for dust pollution,” the NDMC said.

The Public Health Department also issued 290 challans of Rs 48,747 to the violators of public hygiene, littering, single use plastic, solid waste management and burning of waste or dry leaves at public places, it said.

Highlighting the initiatives taken by it to curb air pollution, the NDMC said, “Six mechanical road sweepers (MRS) in two shifts with GPS tracking have been deployed for wet sweeping. The average sweeping length per day is 227 km by the MRS. All avenue roads are mechanically cleaned daily or on alternate days.”

Monitoring of route, km length covered, the running of MRS also monitored by 24×7 through NDMC Integrated Command and Control Centre at its headquarter, it said.

“Eight mobile anti-smog guns are running on the NDMC roads for reducing the dust particles in the air and environment in the New Delhi area.

One static anti-smog gun/mist spray machine has been procured by the NDMC and is being used at Pt. Pant Marg in the NDMC area,” the civic body said.

On construction and demolition (C&D) waste, the NDMC said, “The C&D waste in the area is collected on a daily basis and is being sent to the dumping ground at Okhla recycling plant.”

In the NDMC area there are 14 designated sites for collection of C&D waste of large capacity, it said.

Among others, the civic body said, “On a daily basis in the special cleanliness drive, Swachhta Teams are being not only sweeping the pavement and roads by brooms but also washing by water to wash the dust or other air pollution elements. This initiative is very important for reducing the air pollution in the NDMC area.”

Urging the visitors and citizens of the New Delhi area to play a role to control air pollution at an individual level also, the NDMC said, “As nature cannot resolve and prevent pollution on its own, it becomes the duty of human beings to resolve and prevent the pollution in the environment by himself.”