noida

Updated: Jun 21, 2017 22:29 IST

Officials of the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation (GMC) on Wednesday served notices to two residential towers in Kaushambi for flouting green norms.

The municipal commissioner had found construction debris outside the two towers — Satpura and Nanda — during an inspection, in violation of the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) orders.

The notices, according to officials, will direct the owners of the two towers to pay a penalty and also to clear the debris within two days.

“Owners of the two towers will pay Rs50,000 each as a penalty as they violated the NGT directions. Apart from this, they will have to remove the debris within two days. The notices were served after the municipal commissioner inspected the area a couple of days ago and found debris dumped on the roadside,” said Sanjay Gangwar, junior engineer of the corporation.

SK Jain, president of Satpura towers residents’ welfare association, said that they have been harassed unnecessarily. “The debris is from the renovation of flats, which is not undertaken regularly. Once the renovation is complete, we were going to remove it. After the notice, we will now approach the corporation to explain our view. The debris was not littered. We ensure that it is transported whenever any renovation activity takes place,” he said.

UC Chabbra, president of Nanda tower RWA, referred the issue to VK Mittal, president of Kaushambi Apartment Residents’ Welfare Association (Karwa), which is the apex body of 25 residential towers in Kaushambi.

“The RWAs of the two towers will approach the corporation officials for relief. In case there is any violation of the NGT directions, the notices will have to be complied with. We have circulated messages to all RWAs to ensure that their surroundings are free from garbage and debris,” Mittal said.

“We will also stress on pollution-free surroundings as Karwa has already filed a petition with NGT on the issue. On directions of NGT, Ghaziabad agencies are taking up different initiatives to improve air quality and make Kaushambi better,” he said.

Pollution levels are already high in Kaushambi due to its close proximity to Anand Vihar and Kaushambi inter-state bus terminals, Ghazipur landfill site and Sahibabad industrial area. The residential area is also affected by heavy vehicular traffic throughout the day. Residents alleged that these factors have led to high levels of air and noise pollution and is affecting nearly 10,000 residents of the locality.