Gurgaon: Amid concerns over worsening air quality in Delhi-NCR, a team from the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs conducted a field review of pollution-control measures in the city on Monday. The team inspected road-cleaning operations, construction waste management systems and civic infrastructure works.Led by Prashant Tiwari, director (technical) of the ministry, the team first held a review meeting at the MCG office with additional commissioner Ravinder Yadav and other officials. It sought updates on road improvement projects, deployment of mechanised road-sweeping machines and management of construction and demolition (C&D) waste.MCG officials informed the team that 19 mechanised road-sweeping machines are operating on major roads during night hours to reduce dust pollution. “Another 52 sweeping machines are proposed to be inducted to strengthen road-cleaning operations,” said an MCG official.After the meeting, the team conducted inspections at multiple locations, including road improvement sites, the C&D waste collection point at Begampur Khatola and the C&D waste processing plant at Basai village.At the Basai facility, officials briefed the team on the processing and disposal mechanism for construction waste, a major contributor to particulate pollution in NCR cities. The team also reviewed arrangements to prevent illegal dumping of debris, an issue that continues to plague several parts of the city.Sources said the field inspection was aimed at assessing whether pollution-control measures claimed on paper were actually visible on the ground. The visit comes at a time when the Centre is intensifying monitoring of urban local bodies across NCR over persistent dust pollution, poor construction waste handling and weak enforcement of environmental norms.
