Air panel orders prosecution of Gurugram civic officials over road dust

The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has ordered the prosecution of officials of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) for repeatedly failing to control dust on the city’s roads, in a rare move against a civic body.

The commission recorded 174 breaches of dust-control rules on the 56 km of roads the MCG looks after, 1,135 complaints from the public, and the corporation’s repeated failure to carry out measures such as mechanical sweeping, water sprinkling and covering construction material. It directed that a complaint be filed before a magistrate against the officials responsible.

Why it matters

Road dust is one of the largest local sources of fine-particle pollution across Delhi-NCR, and controlling it is one of the first steps required under the Graded Response Action Plan. Air-quality bodies have issued many notices to civic agencies over the years, but prosecuting officials is uncommon, and the order is meant as a warning to other municipal bodies in the region.

The order comes as the region’s air turned “very poor” to “severe” around Deepavali, with Stage III curbs in force.