ghaziabad all construction activities in ghaziabad including those of the public works department pwd were shut down by the district administration on monday owing to massive levels of air pollution in the city the order to be enforced for one week aims to contain dust emanating from the construction sites which contribute to air pollutionthe order is among a set of directives issued to local authorities and civic bodies district magistrate nidhi kesharwani also directed them to ensure complete prohibition of garbage burning in open areas by imposing hefty fines the directions were issued during a highlevel meeting held at the district collectorate on monday to draw up measures to contain pollutionthe pwd has been asked to suspend all its construction work in the district hot mix plants have also been asked to shut downnecessary instructions have been issued to the ghaziabad development authority gda to ensure that all real estate construction work is halted for a week vehicular pollution is also being looked at the transport department and the traffic police have been directed to conduct a massive checking operation to identify vehicles plying without proper pollutionundercontrol certificates and fitness certificates kesharwani told toimoreover municipal bodies have been asked to sprinkle water on the main roads to contain road dust from adding to the pollution the administration had ordered the closure of all government and governmentaided schools up to class ii on sunday to protect children from air pollutionresidents of the city have also contributed their mite to fight pollution even as the skies cleared up marginally on monday the federation of apartment owners associations fedaoa issued a circular among housing societies on monday asking them to limit the usage of dieselrun power backup systems during electricity outageshousing societies have been asked to run dieselrun gensets only for lighting up of common areas and for operating lifts we have created societies to prohibit burning of garbage in open areas and ensure sprinkling of water in places that are causing dust pollution within their premises said d k maurya fedaoa presidentpower discom paschimanchal vidyut vitaran nigam limited pvvnl said it was managing its resources to ensure uninterrupted supply which would lead to reduction in the use of polluting dieselrun gensets we are trying to provide 24x7 power supply in all areas of the city at present outages are close to nil because demands are low pvvnl chief engineer s k gupta saidmeanwhile to tackle vehicular pollution the federation of rwas of ghaziabad is planning to hold a symbolic carfree day on november 10