With the Delhi government prohibiting all construction and demolition activities for five days, in an effort to bring down the level of air pollutants, a section of realtors maintained that while there was a need to control pollution, stopping construction is unlikely to solve the problem.
In Noida, 18 notices were issued to builders for dust pollution while two builders in Sector 74 were fined Rs 50,000 each for violating norms in their projects, Saumya Srivastava, DCEO NOIDA Authority, said.
The cause of air pollution is not due to construction activities at our projects, Geetambar Anand, president, CREDAI, said. “This is a knee-jerk reaction by the government. The main causes of air pollution are crop burning and loose sand along the roads. In Delhi, whenever a vehicle is on the road, a large quantity of dust from the road side rises in the air. Many cities abroad have a high level of pollutants in the air but nowhere is infrastructure development work stopped. This is not the answer.”
R K Arora, Supertech Chairman, said environment norms are followed at their projects. “The maximum amount of dust at a construction site is generated during excavations. But such situations mostly arise when highways or roads are being constructed or sewer lines being laid down. At most our construction sites, watering takes place and the materials are covered. There is a need to control pollution but stopping construction will not help,” he said.
