The Maharashtra government has asked all civic bodies across the state to take urgent measures to control air pollution by November 10. The order was issued by chief secretary Manoj Saunik on Tuesday, November 7 in the meeting with all municipal commissioners, including Pune and Nagpur, across Maharashtra.
Civic bodies were also asked to take corrective measures to control air pollution caused by infrastructure projects belonging to various government departments and agencies. Although several builders in the city have started taking mitigation measures, government bodies usually do not abide by them.
This development a day after the Bombay High Court (HC) imposed regulations on the Maharashtra government and authorities in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) to mitigate worsening air pollution. November 10 is the next date of hearing in the case.
The chief secretary has also asked them to hold meetings with MCHI and CREDAI and ensure that their staff hold meetings at construction sites to ensure that mitigation measures are taken.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal was not present at the meeting while the civic body was represented by additional commissioner (city) Ashwini Joshi.
Following the issuance of directives, BMC officials said that their assistant commissioners were already undertaking site visits. The civic body had come out with two circulars in March and September this year and will start issuing stop work notices in a big way after Diwali, said officials.
Thane Municipal Commissioner Abijit Bangar said that they had formed squad of the town planning department to check on dust pollution. He also sensitised children of various schools on pollution and teaching them about AQI (Air Quality Index).
On the other hand, Navi Mumbai Municipal chief Rajesh Narvekar said that they had informed developers to follow mitigation measures earlier. Now, the assistant commissioners are inspecting sites to check if norms are followed.
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