by Nazish Zaidi
Of late sector 78 has turned into a dust bowl. Wherever you look you will find a thick layer of dust. Be it cars, houses or trees everything is covered in dust. This is mainly due to the heightened pollution levels and construction work all around. The houses nearer the main roads are the worst affected. In these houses the dust seeps through the nooks and crannies and gathers inside the houses as well.
This dust, apart from being hard to clean, is very harmful for the health of residents. The residents who inhale this dust everyday can become vulnerable to many respiratory disorders. People with asthma are the worst affected as it becomes very difficult for them to breathe and have to stay indoors. This dust when combined with the smog that we are witnessing nowadays becomes more harmful. The manual sweeping of the roads also leads to dust flying around. Ultimately whatever the reason, it is the residents who are facing the brunt of this. A lady resident staying nearby said that her whole day is spent cleaning and dusting her home. How much ever you clean, the dust returns. Another senior citizen of the sector says that he is suffering from asthma and it is becoming very difficult for him to live here. With the increase in pollution levels, GRAP (Graded Response Action Plan) was enforced in the NCR. Under this there are many restrictions and conditions that are imposed upon us. The main being putting an immediate stop on all construction activities, installing dust barriers, covering all loose construction material lying at various sites and spraying water on roads and trees. Although the authorities and NGT have strictly ordered adherence to these guidelines, the ground reality is very different. At many sites construction activities are still going on in full swing, there are no dust barriers put up at many places, construction material is lying in the open. Even Noida Authority contractors are flouting these norms. Mounds of loose dirt and mud can be seen at various corners of the sector. The footpaths at many places are covered by layers of loose mud left after digging and the tiles of the footpaths are buried under this mud. Also as per the orders of NGT water should be sprayed on the roads and areas near the construction sites. Although the Noida Authority is spraying water on the roads and trees, it seems like an eyewash activity. At many places the tanker that sprays the water on the roads covers just one side of the road and leaves the other. And this spraying is also not happening on a daily basis.
The residents who are suffering because of this suggest many measures that the Noida Authority can implement for controlling the dust pollution in a better way. They say that the water spraying should be regular and proper. The mounds of loose dirt lying at various places should be removed regularly and not just when the situation becomes uncontrollable. Mechanised sweeping machines can be deployed instead of manual sweeping. All these can be done all year round so that this menace of dust pollution can be reduced as a standard practice.
