The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued stop work notices to 106 construction sites for failing to install air quality measurement systems within their premises until Thursday, January 22.
This was a part of the crackdown to curb rising air pollution levels in the city. BMC officials have taken strict action against construction projects in its efforts to curb Mumbai air pollution.
According to officials, the notices have been served to private contractors alongside several government projects such as the ongoing railway bridge in Sion, an SRA worksite in K/East ward, a MHADA project site in H/East ward among others.
These 106 projects include private developments, railway bridge construction works in Sion, as well as those being carried out by Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) in K East ward and Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) in H East ward.
Earlier on January 20, the BMC had informed Bombay High Court (HC) that nearly 662 (33 percent) of Mumbai’s ongoing construction sites had failed to install sensor-based air quality monitors until Tuesday, January 20.
After recording ‘satisfactory’ AQI under 100 over the past three days, Mumbai’s overall air quality index swiftly deteriorated on Thursday touching 133 (moderate).
Of the 26 active stations, the worst AQI on Thursday was logged in Worli at 217, categorised as bad, followed by 163 in Sion.
With the city grappling under deteriorating air quality, the BMC in 2023 had released a 28-point guidelines charter enlisting norms for contractors to curb pollution emanating from construction and demolition works on project sites. Alongside this, the civic body had also directed all construction sites to install air monitoring systems with the large project sites over Rs 1,000 crore directed to install, ‘Reference Grade Air Quality Monitor’.
At present, a total of 28 Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS) are operational in Mumbai, comprising 14 under Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, nine under Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and five managed by the BMC.
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