Curation Team
MUMBAI: Responding to the criticism that BMC had woken up late to issue a warning to construction sites who failed to install AQI monitors, the BMC has claimed that the civic body has activated ward level squads to keep a check on whether the construction sites are adhering to the 28 point guidelines.
Besides, civic officials pointed out that show cause and stop work notices are being issued to construction sites that do not adhere to the guidelines.
“As many as 314 notices including 275 show cause notices and 39 stop work notices have been issued to construction sites across the city in the month of Sept alone.This is a continuous process and the squads at the ward level keep visiting the construction sites to check adherence to the guidelines. The BMC is also issuing notices to the construction sites that have not set up AQI monitors,” said a civic official.
Former corporator Ravi Raja wrote on ‘X’ that Mumbai has been breathing poison for the last two winters and that the AQI was “severe” for days, yet the BMC waited till Oct 28 to even threaten action against over 600 construction sites that ignored its June directive on installing sensor-based air monitors. Raja pointed out that less than half of the city’s construction sites have complied with the directives.
The former corporator also said that public health cannot be held hostage to builder interests and that the BMC must impose immediate fines and stop-work orders. “While AQI monitors will help in checking the air quality at a site, right now it is important to ensure that the construction sites do not violate the guidelines. Besides, the process of installing sensor based AQI monitors at all sites, according to specifications issued by BMC and integrating it with the civic air quality monitoring system, will take some time. We came out with specifications for AQI monitors to ensure that quality sensors based monitors are installed at the sites,” said a senior civic official.
