The road digging work has been identified as a key factor in exacerbating air pollution, the BMC said
Representational Pic/File
Grappling with the air pollution problem, the Mumbai civic body on Tuesday decided against granting fresh permissions for the digging of roads in the city, reported the PTI.
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Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner and administrator Bhushan Gagrani clarified that the road work to repair water supply pipelines has been exempted, the civic body stated in a release.
"The road digging work has been identified as a key factor in exacerbating air pollution," the BMC said, as per the PTI.
Civic officials said the construction projects found violating regulations are issued show cause notices and work stop orders.
Stop work notices were served on 33 construction projects in the Byculla area and 45 projects in Borivali (East) till Tuesday evening, a day after the BMC ordered the suspension of work at projects of builders or government agencies in these areas in view of the poor air quality and AQI of 200, the news agency reported.
In a bid to reduce pollution caused by construction projects, BMC has issued guidelines comprising 28 points.
Additionally, project developers, building contractors, and architectural project (mechanical and electrical) contractors are now mandated to prepare an Environmental Management Plan (EMP).
As per the directives of the BMC commissioner, the Environment and Climate Change Department has inspected 877 construction projects from November 2024 until now, assessing adherence to the guidelines and EMP compliance.
Earlier, the BMC had on Monday stated that it has decided to stop all construction work in Borivli East and Byculla within the next 24 hours, as these areas have been recording an Air Quality Index (AQI) of around 200 for the past few days. The work will be allowed to resume once every site is found to be abiding by the civic body’s 28-point dust-mitigation measures. If required, the same step will be taken in Worli and the Navy Nagar area of Colaba after monitoring their AQI levels for the next three days.
The civic body had stated that it has also decided to file FIRs if construction sites continue operating despite the issuance of stop-work notices.
Civic chief had informed the press about these measures on Monday at the BMC headquarters in south Mumbai.
(with PTI inputs)
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