₹1.3-crore fine levied for violations
GURUGRAM: Fines amounting to ₹1.35 crore have been levied on those violating the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap), since it was put into effect on October 25. Construction and demolition work, and garbage dumping account for more than ₹1 crore of the total amount.
Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) officials said that construction and waste dumping were among the easiest violations to apprehend. “They are the most visible polluting activities. Violators are always around so we are able to identify them and levy penalty easily,” said Kuldeep Singh, regional officer, HSPCB.
However, instances of waste burning are hard to detect, he said. “The violators are usually never at the site,” Singh said, explaining why waste burning, despite its ubiquity, accounts for just ₹88,500 of the penalty.
Construction, waste dumping and waste burning were repeatedly noted as the city’s most prominent polluting activities.
Official data shared by the HSPCB also shows that a total of 1,363 on-ground inspections have been carried out by various departments, including the MCG, DTCP, HSPCB, HSVP and the RTA, since October 25. These have resulted in the temporary closure of 76 construction sites, four industrial units, four diesel generators, three stone crushers and two hot-mix plants. Challans have also been issued to owners of six visibly polluting vehicles, 70 freight vehicles that illegally entered the city and 74 vehicles for unlawful parking.
In addition, about 50 unregistered diesel autorickshaws have been impounded. Imran Raza, additional deputy commissioner, said, “The RTA is planning a major drive to sensitise auto drivers of the harmful effects of diesel next year. We want to encourage them to switch to cleaner alternatives. However, before that, we are clamping down on illegally run autos, which should not be on the road in the first place.”
On Friday, Raza spearheaded traffic police officers in a drive to impound unauthorised diesel autos on Sohna Road, during which at least two dozen diesel autos were impounded.
The HSPCB has also served show cause notices to nine government officials, warning them of prosecution in case of their continued failure to prevent Grap violations. These include the administrator, HSVP, four joint commissioners and two chief engineers of the MCG, the secretary of the Pataudi Municipal Council, the HSIIDC’s additional manager in IMT Manesar, and the district development and panchayat officer. “We will initiate prosecution against these officials if repeated inspections continue to yield poor vigilance on their part,” Singh said.