The place may not be on the official list of
pollution hotspots of the capital, but even as the city struggles with bad air, a new dust bowl has emerged at Khyber Pass near Delhi University in north Delhi.
Defying all provisions of the Graded Response Against Pollution, debris and uprooted trees mark the site of demolitions carried out three months ago there. The remains of the demolished houses and the roadside craters send puffs of dust into the pollutant-ridden air.
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Delhi Air Pollution Live Updates: AQI improves from 'severe' to 'very poor'; GRAP-IV curbs tighten, WFH for 50% officesCentral govt’s Land and Development Office (L&DO) razed numerous structures in Khyber Pass on Aug 4. The ravaged area bears a postapocalyptic look three months later.
Ramesh Talukdar, a motorcyclist who passes the locality daily on this way to work at Azadpur, wondered, “Why hasn’t the debris been cleared, particularly since it is adding to already severe pollution these days?” Two shopkeepers claimed they had to clean their establishments of the excessive dust twice every day.
Neither the prescribed protective nets or green construction sheets cover the dusty remnants of houses and shops, broken cement blocks and myriad bricks. No water sprinkling to settle the dust takes place. Even passers-by are at risk of accidents since no barricades have been put up to prevent the rubble from falling and injuring them.
Some people were rummaging through the waste for usable bricks. They said they lived in Majnu ka Tila nearby and were foraging for material to build their shacks. Keval Kisan and Hema Bhandari, who lost their home in the demolition, weren’t happy, saying bricks were being pilfered from the site for three months now.
With the air quality readings at the ‘severe’ levels and with GRAP-IV in force, most construction and demolition activities have been suspended. Restrictions have been imposed on diesel-powered medium and heavy goods vehicles (BS-IV or below) registered in Delhi, except those carrying essential items.
In the midst of these regulations, a continuous dust cover lingering over a north Delhi stretch appears to have gone unnoticed by civic authorities.
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