Dust Control Measures by Delhi Govt as part of anti-Pollution drive

Last updated: Apr 4, 2024

-- 530 water sprinklers and 258 mobile anti-smog guns to combat dust pollution. [1]
-- 52 road sweepers deployed for PWD roads. [2]

Feb 2024: Construction tenders to include adoption of Dust mitigating measures as a standard clause as directed by Delhi govt to all agencies[3]

Importance

[4]

  • Delhi has 1100 kms of roads with 30 m or more right of way, totaling to 4400 kms of road stretch to be swept[4:1]
  • With 10 MRS machines in EDMC, 7 MRS machines in NDMC, 18 MRS machines in North DMC and 24 MRS machines in SDMC, Delhi had total 59 MRS machines operating on roads as reported till early 2020.[4:2]
  • Indore use of MRS respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM) level of city were reduced from 145 mg/Nm3 to 75-80 mg/Nm3
    • IMPACT: respiratory Air borne diseases were reduced by 70%[4:3]

Mechanical Sweeping

Other Projects

  • Rs 28 crore project for mechanised sweeping in Connaught Place in 2022 [5]
  • 15,582km colony road of 12ft width is swept by approximately 57,500 sanitation workers.
  • Dust collected daily is 116.2 MT which is disposed of at Okhla, Bhalaswa, Ghazipur, Shastri Park, Begumpur and Burari.[6]

Anti-Smog guns

Total 530 water sprinklers and 258 mobile anti-smog guns to combat dust pollution[1:1]

  • 60 antismog guns deployed at 13 identified hotspots
  • 20 anti-smog guns have been installed at construction and demolition plants, sanitary landfills and waste-to-energy plants
  • 15 anti-smog guns are placed at highrise building
  • 30 mobile antismog guns deployed on busy roads or near vulnerable sites

Road Repair & Maintenance

  • 10 years mega road repair and maintenance plan with spend of ₹4,500 crore in 2023-24 for repair and maintenance of major streets, road furniture, foot overbridges, subways, green patches and regular washing of the capital’s roads[7]
  • The government will spend ₹2000 crore each subsequent year on the programme[7:1]

Velmurugan, chief scientist and head, Traffic Engineering and Safety Division, Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) said, “The arterial 1400 km of roads carry 70% of traffic and I don’t think any other government has attempted something on this scale. The idea seems to be good but it will depend now on implementation, monitoring and compliance” [8]

Surveilance

  • 591 teams have been established to ensure strict compliance with dust control regulations[1:2]
  • Delhi's Environment Minister, Gopal Rai on Tuesday, instructed DPCC to issue a notice to the government-owned construction company NBCC India for alleged violations of dust control regulations at a construction site near Karkardooma Metro Station[1:3]

Results

  • Monthly sweeping time during a shift got increased from 28% to 66% (with a phase 3 average of 268.8±0.6 minutes) in SDMC, 43% to 57% (by end of phase 2) and 54% (by end of phase 3) in North DMC (an average of 320.96 ±3.21 minutes for phase 3), and 73% to 75% in EDMC[4:4]

Future plans

  • 150 water tankers and sprinklers will be hired for washing the roads[8:1]
  • An another 250 anti-smog guns-cum-sprinklers will be hired for washing streets and trees on colony streets in each ward[8:2]
  • MCD to select a project management consultant who will finalise a Rs 62-crore plan for the mechanised sweeping and upkeep of 1,400km of roads wider than 60ft in the city for 10 years
  • The machine is reported to be around 80 decibels, which is significantly lower than other machines of this level[9]

Challenges

  • MCD brought a proposal for transferring of sanitation services, including cleaning, sweeping, washing of footpaths and desilting on 60-foot roads to PWD, but was opposed by BJP and didn't get LG's approval [10] causing ₹2,388-cr project to clean Delhi roads runs into procedural delays[11]
  • Only 38.67% of 7964 km road length is swept daily. Delhi needs an additional 115 mechanised sweeping machines.[6:1]

References:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/107540011.cms

  1. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/delhi-pollution-gopal-rai-directs-dpcc-to-issue-notice-against-nbcc-india-for-violating-anti-dust-norms/articleshow/104314382.cms ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  2. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/15-mega-projects-to-ease-traffic-congestion-in-delhi-in-pipeline-cm-arvind-kejriwal/articleshow/98457288.cms?from=mdr ↩︎

  3. ↩︎

  4. https://www.ijert.org/research/an-audit-of-mechanized-road-sweeping-operations-in-national-capital-of-india-a-case-study-IJERTV9IS050804.pdf ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  5. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/corpns-deploy-mechanised-sweepers-to-deal-with-dust/articleshow/88080522.cms (Dec 4, 2021) ↩︎

  6. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/dirty-picture-only-38-of-mechanised-road-sweeping-target-met-in-city-so-far/articleshow/108886218.cms ↩︎ ↩︎

  7. https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/delhi-news/kejriwal-announces-10-year-plan-for-road-repair-and-maintenance-101674925572166.html (Jan 28, 2023) ↩︎ ↩︎

  8. https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/2388-cr-project-to-clean-delhi-roads-runs-into-procedural-delays/article66824234.ece (May 3, 2023) ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  9. https://northmcd.com/mechanical-sweeping-road-plans/ ↩︎

  10. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/bjp-opposes-move-to-transfer-sweeping-of-roads-to-pwd-in-delhi/articleshow/99772102.cms ↩︎

  11. https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/mcd-puts-on-hold-transfer-of-road-cleaning-to-pwd-officials-say-will-delay-makeover-project/article66951482.ece ↩︎