Environment minister says NCR construction to halt Nov 5-20 to curb pollution

NEW DELHI, Oct 30 — Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said on Oct 30 that construction and demolition activities across the NCR region would be halted from Nov 5 to Nov 20 in a bid to control pollution, while reviewing a new air quality command centre.

The Commission for Air Quality Management's (CAQM) Integrated Command and Control Centre, named PAVAN, integrates more than 30 APIs and data streams, according to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. These include data from 111 Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations in Delhi-NCR, over 2,300 industries and more than 3,200 active construction sites. Deviations from prescribed norms, statutory directions or agreed compliance requirements trigger alerts and escalation to the concerned agency for necessary action, Yadav said.

"This is a paradigm shift from reacting to pollution to anticipating it, and every implementing agency must now act in real-time on these alerts without delay," Yadav said.