Stone crushers in Mahendragarh under lens

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Mahendragarh, December 1

The stone crushers in the district have come under the scanner. A joint committee, comprising officials of the central and state authorities, has started inspecting the units to find out air pollution load and its adverse impact on public health.

The committee led by DC Ajay Kumar and represented by Sunil Dave from the Central Pollution Control Board, Executive Engineer Mohit Mudgil from the Haryana State Pollution Control Board and Harsha Kota, an expert on air pollution from IIT-Delhi, on Wednesday visited Dholera, Bigopur and Bayal villages here to examine the functioning of stone crushers.

Over 50 units shut for norm violation

The committee will inspect all stone crushers to ascertain the units that can operate. There are over 100 units operational in the district while over 50 have already been shut for norm violation. —Official

“Since the units are closed these days due to poor air quality in the NCR hence the team concluded its inspection by just asking the operators about the parameters mandatory to check pollution. It was the first visit of the team, which aims to take stock of the situation at crushing zones in the district. Proper inspection will be conducted later when the crushers start functioning,” said an official preferring anonymity.

He said the team members earlier also held a meeting to finalise a plan to conduct the physical inspection of every stone crusher in the district in compliance with the recent directives of the NGT while hearing a petition filed by local youth Tejpal Yadav, who accused the units of throwing the anti-pollution norms to the wind, leading to an increase in air-borne diseases.

Meanwhile, the DC said the panel would assess the carrying capacity of environment, besides checking the compliance of norms by stone crushers in view of the NGT orders.

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