Pollution: Rs 12.75 lakh in penalties in Noida, Greater Noida

New Delhi, Nov 19: The Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) imposed fines on contractors and builders on Thursday for causing pollution. It collected penalties worth ₹10 lakh in Greater Noida, while fines of ₹2.75 lakh were imposed in Noida over violation of construction norms, officials said.

Altogether 13 contractors and builders were issued penalties by the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA), they said.

"The penalties were slapped as all sorts of construction has been banned for four days due to high level of pollution in Greater Noida. A total of 13 such offenders were issued fines totalling ₹10 lakh on Wednesday and Thursday," the GNIDA added.

GNIDA CEO Narendra Bhooshan has requested the city residents to support in tackling pollution by not burning waste, increasing plantation and ensuring proper waste management.

According to the Noida Authority, it collected over Rs 2.75 lakh from similar penalties in 22 cases.
The penalties were levied for violation of pollution-related guidelines in NCR, it said in a statement.

Delhi Air Quality Remains in Poor Quality
Meanwhile, the air quality in the national capital has continued to remain in the very poor category, as per the System of Air Quality & Weather Forecasting & Research (SAFAR).

However, the overall Air Quality Index came down to 332 from 362 on Thursday. The concentrations of PM 2.5 and PM 10 stood at 182 in the 'very poor' and 292 in the 'poor' category respectively.

According to the SAFAR bulletin, Delhi's AQI will remain the same for the next two days. "The AQI today indicates the very poor category and likely to improve but remain the same for the next two days as transport-level winds are coming from the east direction preventing intrusion of any pollutants from the stubble burning region. Local surface winds are low and mixing layer height is above 1 km resulting in moderate ventilation of near-surface pollutants," it said in a bulletin.