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Broken pavements, untarred roads: Why Delhi’s Rohini is a dust bowl

A week after CAQM flagged heavy dust pollution in Rohini, here's what a a spot check by The Indian Express found

3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Dec 22, 2025 11:13 AM IST

Begumpur, Sector 22: A bus on a dirt road raises dust that obscures everything around. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)

On December 8, flying squads of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) inspected 57 roads maintained by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in Rohini and found high visible dust on 12 of these stretches. The air pollution watchdog noted that DDA needed to strengthen road-cleaning and mechanical sweeping activities especially on the dustiest stretches.

Dust is a major contributor to the capital’s air pollution crisis. Road dust is the second highest contributor to Delhi’s PM2.5 pollution, accounting for close to one-fifth (18%) of the fine and deadly particulate matter, according to a 2018 source-apportionment study by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Automotive Research Association of India. The study identified transport as the biggest contributor (39%) to Delhi’s pollution.

A week after the CAQM inspection, The Indian Express travelled through several parts of Rohini in Northwest Delhi on Tuesday to check on the visible dust on the street.

Sector 8: Near the Metro station, large mounds of dirt and earth lie by the roadside. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)

At the Sector 8 crossing, a large mound of soil sat where the pavement should be, seemingly covering a newly installed pipeline. Clouds of dust rose every time a bus roared past on the road. A local shopkeeper said work on new drain pipes had stopped ever since GRAP restrictions kicked in.

Near Rithala village, footpaths on either side of the road lay broken and dug up for almost a kilometre. Work to widen the road from Rithala Metro Station to the Supplementary Drain is ongoing.

Rithala village: Dividers and pavements broken, cars parked on the dusty road. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)

Cars and bikes were parked over the dug-up footpaths and the service road. Children from the nearby village played on the loose dust.

Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has identified the elimination of dust pollution as one of the government’s top priorities. Funds have been released for constructing wall-to-wall roads. The CM has claimed that wall-to-wall carpeting of around 1,400 km of roads is underway to reduce the dispersion of dust, and that a comprehensive dust-mitigation plan is being implemented across the city.

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Dust everywhere: Along roads and on the dividers, large quantities of road dust lie, and rise frequently. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)

In another part of Rohini, on the rural edge of the city, an entire carriageway lay untarred. Area residents said the road was dug up to lay a pipe, but was not remade afterward. Large clouds of dust rose every time a vehicle passed over the bumpy, potholed stretch of loose earth.

“It’s been like this for months,” a fruit vendor on the street said. “We are now used to breathing in dust, so are our customers.”

Devansh Mittal

Devansh Mittal is a Correspondent at The Indian Express, based in the New Delhi City bureau. He reports on urban policy, civic governance, and infrastructure in the National Capital Region, with a growing focus on housing, land policy, transport, and the disruption economy and its social implications. Professional Background Education: He studied Political Science at Ashoka University. Core Beats: His reporting focuses on policy and governance in the National Capital Region, one of the largest urban agglomerations in the world. He covers housing and land policy, municipal governance, urban transport, and the interface between infrastructure, regulation, and everyday life in the city. Recent Notable Work His recent reporting includes in-depth examinations of urban policy and its on-ground consequences: An investigation into subvention-linked home loans that documented how homebuyers were drawn into under-construction projects through a “builder–bank” nexus, often leaving them financially exposed when delivery stalled. A detailed report on why Delhi’s land-pooling policy has remained stalled since 2007, tracing how fragmented land ownership, policy design flaws, and mistrust among stakeholders have kept one of the capital’s flagship urban reforms in limbo. A reported piece examining the collapse of an electric mobility startup and what it meant for women drivers dependent on the platform for livelihoods. Reporting Approach Devansh’s work combines on-ground reporting with analysis of government data, court records, and academic research. He regularly reports from neighbourhoods, government offices, and courtrooms to explain how decisions on housing, transport, and the disruption economy shape everyday life in the city. Contact X (Twitter): @devanshmittal_ Email: devansh.mittal@expressindia.com ... Read More

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