Work on Central Vista continues, Govt set to issue notice to CPWD

New Delhi: The Delhi government will issue notice to the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) for carrying out construction work at the Central Vista project site despite a ban and for violating dust control norms, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Wednesday.
He said the CPWD must respond to these notice by Thursday and further action will be taken based on their response.
"We had been receiving a lot of calls regarding work being carried out at the Central Vista project site despite a ban on construction and demolition activities. During an inspection, we found that it was indeed true", Rai said.
"We will ask the Delhi Pollution Control Committee to issue a notice to the CPWD, asking it the reason for continuing the construction work despite restrictions because of air pollution," he said.
Rai said a separate notice will be issued to the agency for violating dust pollution control norms at the site.
The Delhi government had earlier said the ban on construction and demolition activities in the capital will continue till further orders because of the high air pollution levels.
Rai said November witnessed an increase in pollution levels due to a variety of reasons. "This month saw both Diwali pollution illegal cracker burning — and stubble burning around Delhi which significantly contributed to the intensity of pollution. A reduction in wind speed led to
the accumulation of pollutants," he said.
Meanwhile, a cloud cover over Delhi led to a slight increase in the minimum temperature that settled at 11.5 degrees Celsius, two notches above normal, on Wednesday, officials said. They said a western disturbance affecting northwest India will result in a spell of partly cloudy days and a drizzle on Thursday in the national Capital.
The maximum temperature settled at 23 degrees Celsius, two notches below normal. However, the slow wind speed due to the western disturbance allowed accumulation of pollutants and thus, increased the air pollution levels, the officials said. The city's 24-hour average AQI read 370.