The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued 856 show-cause notifications to various building sites and infrastructure developmental projects for non-adherence to air pollution norms in an effort to fulfil its pledge to improve the air quality levels in smog-covered mumbai.
On January 6 they sent a 24-hour notice; if it is not followed, stop-work notices will be given and work will be halted entirely.
Additionally, 462 stop-work notices have been sent to infrastructure projects and construction sites that disregarded the show-cause notices. Meanwhile, 71 show-cause notices have been dismissed.
An official from K East ward stated that they have sent these notifications to road contractors via the road engineers.
The civic authorities learnt while sending out notifications to private developers, that their departmental work was also causing air pollution. BMC's infrastructure projects, such as the concrete and cement work on roadways also led to pollution. "The regulations that the other agencies abide by must likewise be followed by us," said BMC officials.
"It is observed that these projects create adverse effects on the environment in the form of dust, noise, vibration, etc. It was noted during the site visit on January 4 that you had not followed the Municipal Commissioner's instructions. Therefore, you are instructed to comply with this within 24 hours of receiving this letter; if you don't, a "Stop Work" notification will be sent to your site, and the work in question will be halted. (sic)," the BMC's show-cause notice to road contractors stated.
The road department's assistant engineers have been instructed to investigate the situation and discipline contractors who disobey the municipal commissioner's directives. According to the notice, they have 48 hours to deliver a compliance report to the ward.
Due to AQI readings exceeding 200, the BMC paused work on all construction sites in Borivali East, Byculla, Mumbai Central, and Mazagaon last week. The prohibition on Borivali and Byculla was formally lifted on January 6 at 6 pm.
In addition to building sites, 10 show-cause warnings were sent on January 6 by the BMC's K East ward in Andheri East to road contractors, including NCC Ltd, AIC Infra (P) Ltd, and R G Shah Infratech (P) Ltd, for violating air pollution mitigation rules.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) 4 pm bulletin, Mumbai's overall AQI on January 6 dropped significantly to 132 from 162 on January 5, both of which were in the moderate range. Three stations were deemed satisfactory and 19 stations fell into the intermediate category out of the 24 stations that recorded a 24-hour average.