Baijal tells DPCC to devise ways to dump road dust
Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Anil Baijal, directed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to come up with a plan on how to dispose of the road dust collected by mechanical sweepers.
The New Delhi Municipal Council operates five mechanical road sweepers and the state public works department has six such sweepers to keep the roads free from dust.
At present the dust collected is taken to the landfill sites and dumped. But officials said that these dust particles are again blown to the city by the wind.
“The L-G desired that a Standard Operating Procedure for final disposal of collected dust must be developed and DPCC must issue the relevant guidelines in this regard,” said a statement issued by the Raj Niwas on Monday.
Earlier in the day, Baijal held a review meeting with top officials of the state government and civic bodies to discuss status of air pollution in Delhi.
The civic bodies would be also procuring sweepers and the first lot of machines are expected to reach them by mid-July. The PWD which operates six sweepers is also procuring six more which would add to the fleet by September this year.
In the meeting the state environment secretary informed that an additional 20 real time air pollution monitoring stations would be functional by October, 2017. The process of tendering is nearing completion.
The civic bodies informed that they were in the process of floating tenders for construction and demolition waste plants and waste-to-energy plants. Land issues and other clearances were being pursued with the departments concerned.
The L-G also directed the authorities to keep a vigil on vulnerable spots where open burning of garbage could take place.
The government informed that the environment department has put up hoardings in industrial areas for mass awareness to enforce a ban on the use of pet coke and furnace oil.