BMC issues Stop-Work Orders as Mumbai’s AQI worsens, Court rejects volcanic ash excuse
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has said that it has issued stop-work notices to 53 construction sites for contributing to air pollution, as the city grapples with deteriorating Air Quality Index (AQI).
The civic body on Thursday also directed that the air pollution guidelines it had laid down should be followed strictly. These include installing sensors to monitor AQI that remain operational all the time.
Ashwini Joshi, Additional Municipal Commissioner (city), warned of strict action if AQI sensors were found to be non-operational.
Earlier in the day, the Bombay High Court said the authorities cannot blame ash clouds from the volcanic eruption in Ethiopia for the air pollution in India's financial capital, as the AQI has been poor for a long time.
A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad was urged to take up the hearing of a bunch of pleas from 2023 on the issue of air pollution in the city.
Senior counsels Darius Khambata and Janak Dwarkadas, appearing for the petitioners, said the AQI in the city has been consistently poor and above 300 this month.
Additional government pleader Jyoti Chavan said air pollution has worsened due to the volcanic eruption in Ethiopia two days ago.
The court, however, did not entertain the argument.
"Even before this eruption, if one stepped out, visibility was poor beyond 500 metres," the court said.
Referring to the situation in Delhi, which is witnessing alarming levels of AQI, the HC asked what effective measures can be taken to address the issue.
"We are all seeing what is happening in Delhi. What is the effect of that?" the bench questioned, posting the matter for hearing on Friday.
Hayli Gubbi, a shield volcano in Ethiopia's Afar region, erupted on Sunday, producing a large ash plume that rose to around 14 km in the sky.
The plume spread eastward across the Red Sea and towards the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent.
Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora wrote to the BMC Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani, urging him to take immediate and extraordinary action, including a temporary halt to all digging and construction sites until the air quality improves.
"Mumbai's air pollution crisis is no longer a seasonal issue --- it is a public health emergency. India needs a nationwide war and a national consensus against air pollution," Deora said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray said even as Mumbai's AQI worsens every day, and the city competes with Delhi on this score, the governments from top to bottom, currently controlled by the BJP and its allies, conveniently ignore people's plight.
"In Mumbai, builders and contractors are a priority for the BJP government, while apart from the construction and demolition works, tree felling in the name of development is the new mantra of the BJP," he alleged.
On its part, the civic body pointed out that various steps are being undertaken to address air pollution, including forcing bakeries and crematoriums to use cleaner fuels, introducing electric buses, managing construction debris scientifically, and using machines to sprinkle water on roads to control dust.
In October last year, the BMC issued 28 guidelines which include installing metal fencing and green cloth covering around construction sites to control dust, carrying out water sprinkling, properly storing and transporting debris, installing air quality monitoring devices and setting up smoke absorption systems, among other measures.
To ensure compliance, flying squads have been formed, the civic body said.
The BMC added that as of November 26, it has issued 53 stop-work notices to construction sites contributing to air pollution. These included 17 in Siddharth Nagar (G-South ward), five in Mazgaon (E ward) and 31 in Malad West (P-North ward).
Additional Municipal Commissioner Joshi also reviewed the operational status of sensor-based AQI monitoring systems at construction sites on Thursday.
A total of 662 such systems have been installed across Mumbai, while the installation of another 251 was in progress. Of these, 400 systems are integrated with a unified data dashboard. It was found that 117 systems are currently inactive.
Joshi warned that stringent action will be taken against responsible parties through the 95 ward-level flying squads if any system is found non-functional.
Bakeries have also been identified as a contributing factor to air pollution. Out of 593 bakeries in Mumbai, 209 already operate using clean fuel.
The civic body said that due to its efforts, an additional 57 bakeries have transitioned to clean fuel, 75 have initiated this transition within the last six months, and 88 have applied to obtain piped natural gas from Mahanagar Gas.
