Intensive road cleaning rolled out to curb dust, improve air quality

The Delhi government on Wednesday rolled out an extensive road cleaning operation across all PWD roads, with 200 maintenance vans deployed throughout the city, to prevent the air quality index from worsening.

The operation includes removal of debris from road surfaces, filling potholes on priority, repairing and upgrading road signage, and carrying out other essential maintenance tasks, aimed at curbing the dust.

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As part of this mission, the PWD has launched a special drive for deep cleaning and dust control along all its roads, including Right of Way (RoW) areas.

Each of the 200 maintenance vans has been tasked with deep cleaning at least 200 metres of road daily, and to ensure accountability, every van is placed under the direct charge of a Junior Engineer (JE) or Assistant Engineer (AE).

According to CM office, the work is progressing rapidly across 1,400 kilometres of PWD roads in the national capital, and activities include removal of dust from RoW areas, cleaning of kerb channels and bell mouths, debris removal, coordination with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for cases of regular dumping, cleaning and repair of footpaths, filling of potholes, improvement of road signage, and maintenance of streetlights and exposed wiring.

In this ongoing work, weekly progress reviews are being conducted by senior officers of the departments concerned.

The CM has directed that all work be completed within 45 days, warning that strict action will be taken against any officer failing to meet the targets. She said that strict guidelines have been laid down for the campaign, with individual accountability fixed for each officer.

According to her office, the CM has emphasized that the government is fully committed to pollution control and will not tolerate any negligence in this regard.

Coordinated efforts are being undertaken across all the departments concerned to bring pollution spike under control, while multiple teams have been formed to monitor polluting industrial units and vehicles.

There is more focus on the identified air pollution hotspots in the city, where the pollution mitigation measures are being undertaken as per the guidelines and norms set by the authorities.

By cleaning and managing dust and debris on roads, the government aims to bring about a significant improvement in Delhi’s air quality.