A concrete batching plant in Action Area IIC has become a headache for residents of Moonbeam Housing Complex in New Town, so much so that residents are thinking of lodging a formal complaint with the West Bengal Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) and the Pollution Control Board (PCB).
The unit stands next to Starlit Housing and is the central batching plant of Ahluwalia Contracts Ltd which has two projects under way in New Town. One of them is at the end of the road. It is an "affordable housing” project of the West Bengal Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation, in which seven buildings with 15 floors are coming up. The other is near Sukhobrishti. A third project by the contractor has recently got completed. A batching unit combines various ingredients to form concrete. The inputs include sand, rocks, gravel, fly ash, silica fume, slag and cement. These are the kinds of components blowing out of the plant that residents allege are the causes of their woes.
The road in front of the main gate of the complex, Street 666, has ceased to look like a metalled road. A thick carpet of mud, sand and cement grains has settled on it, from which a dense cloud of dust kicks up every time a vehicle passes, enveloping passersby and passengers on wheels behind and drastically reducing visibility. The Telegraph Salt Lake had to put on a mask while driving close to the site. The constant plying of concrete mixing trucks and other heavy motor vehicles has also created poke marks along the road, making the ride a bumpy one.
On the other side of the road, soil dug up from the construction site are piled up intermittently to heights of two to three storeys.
“We are sandwiched between the construction site and the cement mixing plant. We can neither drive nor walk because of the air pollution and the bumpy surface of what was once a proper road,” said Subho Dasgupta, the former treasurer of Moonbeam Apartment Owners Association.
But inconvenience of movement is the least part of their bother. “Since we are to the north of the plant, the wind from the south carries dust and cement particles for nine months of the year. The south-facing apartments are the worst sufferers. And in winter, the wind blows dust from the construction site to the north-facing flats,” Dasgupta said.
Pradip Choudhury was the earliest resident to move into Moonbeam, in 2012. “We stay in a south-facing flat on the second floor. Dust pollution has been our constant companion. My wife succumbed to interstitial lung disease in 2016, which is caused by long-term exposure to hazardous materials. The situation has worsened manifold ever since the concrete plant started functioning. There is a thick coat of dust settled on all surfaces, especially the bed covers. When it gets unbearable I have to shut the windows,” said the 70-year-old. The situation is just as bad in all the 80 south-facing flats in eight blocks, he said. Moonbeam has 28 residential blocks.
“When the wind blows during the loading and unloading of their components, we face a dust storm!” said Dasgupta. The housing society held a special general meeting on Sunday where the situation was discussed.
“How can such a plant come up in a residential area? We hear it is supplying materials to all their construction sites. And once monsoon comes, the excavated earth that is being piled on the side of the road will become mud and create further problems,” he pointed out.
It is not just the residents of Moonbeam who are suffering. “We are facing a deterioration in air quality,” said Projjal Gupta of Highland Woods Maple.
The plant has been in operation for close to a year. A senior Hidco official, when informed of the hazard, said: “We have not been alerted about the grievance. Such batching plants are a part of any large construction site these days. They are supposed to do water sprinkling, which can reduce the dust. We will check if that routine is being maintained.”
Residents said they had spotted a sprinkler sometimes in the afternoon. Sources at the plant said the sprinkler is used thrice a day. “It was dysfunctional for a few days but we have resumed since Tuesday,” he added.
But the residents are not convinced whether water sprinkling will bring them any relief. “The water only makes the dusty surfaces slushy. We want the plant to be shifted to a non-residential area,” Dasgupta said.
Pollution Control Board chairman Kalyan Rudra said the board would send an inspection team to the site if a complaint is lodged. “Even if the plant is a temporary one, no one has the right to pollute the air,” he told The Telegraph Salt Lake.
The Hidco official said they expect the housing project to be ready within the calendar year. But according to sources at the construction site, the project will take another year and half to two years to finish.
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