In a bid to curb rising dust pollution during the winter months, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Saturday unveiled a comprehensive 14-point construction guideline as part of the city's 'Winter Action Plan'.
The rules aim to tackle dust pollution from the construction sites, which is a major contributor to the city's declining air quality, Mr Rai said.
He stated that these guidelines will be strictly enforced starting October 7 adding any violations after this date will lead to penalties with the repeat offenders facing a halt in the construction activities.
The rules mandate that all construction sites must be covered with tin sheets to prevent dust from spreading into the surroundings.
"People involved in any kind of construction work whether private, government or company-driven must ensure compliance with these rules," Mr Rai emphasised during his press conference.
Mr Rai stated that all construction areas must be enclosed with tin sheets, vehicles transporting construction materials must have clean tires and materials like sand and gravel must be covered to prevent dust from spilling onto the roads.
To control dust, regular water sprinkling at the construction sites is compulsory, he added.
Mr Rai further said that workers must be provided with dust masks and health kits at all times.
The Delhi government has also deployed 523 teams from 13 departments to monitor compliance.
These teams will inspect the construction sites around the clock, ensuring that the new norms are followed to prevent dust pollution, he said.
The anti-dust campaign will run from October 7 to November 7 as part of the winter action plan to tackle pollution in the capital, Mr Rai added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
TEMPO, a collaborative space mission by NASA, NOAA, and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, is transforming air quality tracking across North America. Since 2023, it has delivered hourly, high-resolution pollution data from space, aiding researchers, health officials, and the public.
The Delhi government has rolled back a contentious order denying fuel to 'end of life' cars - the term for petrol vehicles registered over 15 years ago and diesel vehicles more than 10 years.
India's demographic health survey 2019-21 reveals that 13 per cent of children were born prematurely, and 17 per cent with a low weight at birth, with air pollution contributing to the adverse birth outcomes.
The city recorded a minimum temperature of 25.2 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, with the weather office predicting light to moderate rain.
Cloud seeding is generally considered moderately effective, with studies and real-world programmes showing it can increase rainfall under the right conditions.
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