MUMBAI: Amid Mumbai’s air getting fouler, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has announced that no new ready-mix concrete (RMC) plant will be allowed to be set up within municipal corporation limits in MMR. Existing plants will have to ensure anti-dust curtains at entry and exit gates, and undertake water sprinkling on vehicle tyres over the next three months.
Failure to follow the new rules will result in seizure of bank guarantee deposits and even closure, warned MPCB officials.
As per the directives issued by MPCB member secretary Avinash Dhakne, any new captive RMC plant (located near a construction site) outside corporation areas in MMR has to be set up on 10% of the total allotted land and must be fully covered on all sides, like a box structure, with tin or similar material within the next three months after submitting a bank guarantee of Rs 10 lakh towards compliance.
MPCB said in a notification that after possession or completion of 70% of the work, the plants will have to be shifted or dismantled in a month. “The project proponent will have to comply with other locational statutory requirements in force, such as Development Control Rules, while obtaining consent to establish from MPCB,” it said.
New commercial RMC plants (which provide materials to other sites) outside corporation areas will have to pay a bank guarantee of Rs 25 lakh, maintain a buffer zone of 500m distance from the nearest area with a minimum population of 1,000 and of 500m from national/state highways and major district roads.
These plants also cannot be within 500m of schools, colleges, hospitals and courts, said MPCB, adding that at least 4,000sqm of land required for such units.
All RMC units will have to monitor ambient air quality at the plot boundary and ensure that limits for PM10 and PM2.5 do not exceed 100µg/m3 and 60µg/m3, respectively. “The monitors will have to be connected to the central monitoring station of MPCB. Also, expansion activities for existing commercial plants have been banned, and if any plant applies for consent, it will be treated as a [new] unit,” said the pollution watchdog.
Chairman Siddhesh Kadam said MPCB is taking actions in coordination with civic corporations in MMR to stop polluters from worsening the air quality. “Efforts are being made to maintain a satisfactory air quality level.”
On Friday, Mumbai’s average AQI was 128, indicating ‘moderate’ level of pollution.
