Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said the directions under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act have been issued to Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. He said that while mechanised sweeping of roads will be introduced to control dust, municipal agencies have been asked to undertake sprinkling of water and putting up of curtains to control air pollution from construction and demolition activities.

“We have issued specific directions. There has to be immediate action on visibly polluting vehicles, check the over-loaded transport vehicles as it causes pollution, weighing machines should be immediately installed at the entry points, no parking on non-designated areas should be allowed, stringent action against bio-mass burning, immediate stoppage of unauthorised brick kilns,” Javadekar said.

Coming down hard on pollution emanating from construction and transportation of debris, Javadekar said new waste management rules will be notified in the next month. “But before that, from today we are putting certain restrictions through this directions that water should be sprinkled over dust so that the particles don’t get mixed into the air and vehicles carrying construction materials and debris must be covered well. So all these restriction will be in force from today,” Javadekar said.

The immediate actions also include prevention of parking of vehicles in non-designated areas, introduction of early alarm system for benefit of commuters related to traffic congestion on major routes for diversion, introduction of plan for flexible or staggered timings to minimise peak movement of vehicles on the road and taking steps to retrofit diesel vehicles with particulate filters. The Centre also asked the states to create green buffers along traffic corridors.