Construction And Demolition Waste

Questions

1. Whether Government is cognizant of the growing instances of non-adherence of dust mitigation measures mandated under the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) leading to the dispersion of construction and demolition waste in the air;
2. If so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
3. The manner in which the monitoring of construction, re-modelling, repair and demolition of civil structures is being undertaken in the regions under CAQM; and
4. The status of progress on building an online mechanism for monitoring and reporting of the compliance of dust mitigation measures?

Answered by: Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri Bhupender Yadav 06-04-2023

(a) & (b): Dust arising out of ongoing construction and demolition activities and infrastructure development in the National Capital Region is one of the contributors to the overall adverse air quality in the region. Accordingly, this sector has been a priority area for the Central Government and the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM). CAQM has issued statutory directions, advisories and guidelines for appropriate dust mitigation measures, besides calling for compliance of various statutes, viz. C&D Waste Management Rules and related CPCB guidelines on dust mitigation measures.

(c) & (d): CAQM has an extensive monitoring mechanism for compliance of dust mitigation measures in the NCR. Flying Squads/ Inspection Teams constituted by the CAQM have been regularly carrying out incognito inspections of the C&D project sites, besides inspections by the respective State Pollution Control Boards / DPCC and various departments/ agencies of the concerned State Govts. / GNCTD.

Under statutory directions of the Commission, to facilitate remote monitoring of bigger C & D projects, all projects in the NCR on plot areas equal to or more than 500 sqm. are required to register on the respective dedicated web portals in the States of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and the NCT of Delhi and certify self-compliance of various stipulated measures. Such portals have been developed and are operational in the NCRE states and GNCTD. The project sites registered on the web portal are also required to be video fenced to also enable remote monitoring of the compliances by the inspection agencies through the respective web portals.

Further, under statutory directions of the CAQM, ‘Dust Control and Management Cells' (DCMC) have been setup by different road owning/ monitoring agencies in NCR to specifically monitor and manage dust pollution from major road infrastructure building/ construction works and road maintenance activities.