Climate & Environment

CAQM Orders Prosecution of Gurugram Officials Over Dust Mitigation Failures

By PTI

The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has ordered the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) to prosecute an executive engineer and other officials for allegedly failing to implement dust mitigation measures. The directive follows a letter dated October 30 from the MCG to the Urban Local Bodies Department, Haryana, recommending disciplinary action against Executive Engineer Surender Sheoran for mismanaging mechanised road‑sweeping machines and failing to ensure effective dust‑management operations. Sheoran and the other officials will be prosecuted before a jurisdictional judicial magistrate under Section 14(2) of the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021, which makes the offence non‑cognizable and triable only upon a complaint by the Commission or an authorised officer.

The failure to enforce dust‑mitigation measures was first identified in December of last year during a CAQM inspection of 125 road stretches under MCG jurisdiction. The inspection found 34 stretches with high visible dust and 58 with moderate visible dust. In February, CAQM inspected sectors 49, 50, 70, 73, 74, and 75 after a complaint about dust and municipal solid waste, finding heaps of loose soil and construction and demolition dust along road stretches. In October, CAQM examined 52 road stretches and recorded more than 250 violations, including high visible dust, with 174 violations on stretches under MCG jurisdiction. After the MCG commissioner appeared before the CAQM on November 3, the decision was made to hold Sheoran and other officials accountable for the violations.