MUMBAI: The BMC has imposed a collective penalty of Rs 82.5 lakh on multiple ongoing construction works across the city in keeping with the set of SOPs it had released on Oct 25, last year, to check rising air pollution.
While 1,572 work sites were levied a penalty of Rs 48 lakh for not keeping their premises clean, 139 sites were fined for burning garbage and 537 individuals for unauthorised dumping of construction and demolition (C&D) waste.
BMC had released 27 new dust-mitigation guidelines with strict directives to all worksites, including government projects, to comply within 30 days.
Deputy municipal commissioner-environment Minesh Pimpale said, “Ward level teams are acting against those not following the air pollution norms. In case of non-compliance, a notice is issued by the concerned ward, and in some cases a penalty is also levied,” he said.
Action was also taken against 176 construction sites that were not covered by tarpaulin, resulting in higher dust particles in the air. A penalty of Rs 3.3L has been recovered from them. Besides, a penalty of Rs 3,05,1975 was imposed on 537 cases for unauthorised C&D dumping and a penalty of Rs 62,300 was recovered in 139 cases for burning garbage. These punitive actions helped in disciplining construction works to an extent, said a BMC official.
Trivan Karnani, a lawyer who is also spokesperson of social media X handle @MNCDFbombay, which is a citizen welfare forum, said they have been flooded with messages from citizens on air pollution SOPs not being followed.
“All the notices and penalties appear to be an eyewash as the situation on ground has not improved. We see construction sites violating guidelines and not making use of sprinklers. There is a dereliction of duty on part of civic officers for not acting sternly,” said Karnani.
Pointing out that stop-work notices, and not penalties, hit construction sites the hardest, a ward officer said: “They are quick to ensure that all compliances are met as they do not want to delay work. So, we have been issuing stop-work notices.” Till date, the BMC has issued around 800 stop-work notices across the city’s 24 wards, and even sealed seven construction sites.
