Min asked for visible improvement in 7 days. In Gurgaon, his words bite the dust

GURGAON: Across the Millennium City, there is no dearth of loose dust flying around, from dug up roads to exposed construction materials and trucks carrying garbage. In places like MG Road, Udyog Vihar, Sector 29, Sushant Lok 1, Galleria Market Road, IFFCO Chowk, Atlas Chowk and Gurgaon-Faridabad Road, exposed soil, loose construction material and incomplete resurfacing work contribute generously to pollution load in these busy areas, a visit by TOI has revealed. Last Friday, Union environment minister Bhupinder Yadav had asked Delhi-NCR authorities to show "visible improvement" in air quality within a week by tackling road dust and poorly managed construction activity. Those instructions seem to have bitten the dust in Gurgaon. A permanent dust haze enveloping Sector 29, Hero Honda Chowk, Dwarka Expressway, and Golf Course Road Extension, the regions that are home to numerous construction sites and dilapidated roads. Across MG Road, Udyog Vihar, Sector 29, Sushant Lok 1, Galleria Market Road, IFFCO Chowk, Atlas Chowk, and the Gurgaon-Faridabad Road, exposed soil, loose construction material, and unfinished resurfacing work were evident. Continuous traffic movement lifted fine dust into the air, creating a persistent haze at street level. On MG Road and near IFFCO Chowk, mounds of sand and cement were being handled openly along pavements and medians, with no barricading or water sprinkling in place. As cars and buses passed by, dust rose steadily, settling on shopfronts, parked vehicles, and traffic police booths nearby. "This stretch is always busy, but whenever road work starts, the dust becomes unbearable," said Rakesh Kumar, a daily commuter travelling from Sohna Road to Cyber City. "Within minutes, you can feel it in your throat, especially during peak hours." At Atlas Chowk, large portions of the road surface were scraped and left uneven for weeks. Gravel and exposed base layers spilled into traffic lanes, and vehicles passing through kicked up dust clouds throughout the day. "Two-wheelers have it the worst here," said Ankit Verma, who works in Phase III, Udyog Vihar. "There are no proper diversions or warning signs. By the time you reach the office, your clothes and helmet are covered in dust." Interior roads feeding Sector 29 and Sushant Lok 1 show wide patches of bare earth and broken asphalt, particularly near junctions. With no fencing or covering, these stretches have effectively turned into open dust bowls. "It feels like we are living next to a construction site all the time," said Naina Gupta, a resident of Sushant Lok 1. "Even in the afternoon, windows have to stay shut because dust keeps blowing in." Galleria Market Road, a high-footfall commercial stretch, also showed poor road conditions, with dug-up shoulders and debris lying close to traffic and pedestrian zones. On Elan Mall road, near Dwarka Expressway, fresh soil exposure along service lanes and junctions continues to add dust to an already pollution-prone corridor. At Civil Line, large mounds of excavated soil and fine construction material were dumped directly on the carriageway, narrowing the road and forcing vehicles to slow down and weave through loose earth. The mounds were left completely uncovered, with no barricades or warning signage, and fine dust from the exposed soil spread across the road surface with every passing vehicle. Across locations, the common thread is broken roads and open construction and demolition debris exposed without basic dust-control measures such as water spraying, covered storage of materials, or proper barricading, despite winter pollution remaining high and enforcement deadlines tightening. Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has reiterated directions to strictly enforce air pollution control measures across NCR during the GRAP period. In a review earlier this month, the commission observed that Haryana's performance in tackling road dust, traffic congestion at pollution hotspots, and municipal solid waste disposal was inadequate. Every winter, a combination of adverse weather conditions and local emissions leads to smog across Delhi-NCR. According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, Gurgaon ranked as the fifth most polluted city among 238 Indian cities with available data last winter, with an average PM2.5 concentration of 110 micrograms per cubic meter over the season.