BMC: Infra project contractors should enlist pollution sources at site, mitigation plan

While the BMC has set an initial deadline of October 15 and will provide a further extension of 30 days for the submission of the plan, a senior official said that the agencies delaying the submission will be penalised and eventually, issued a stop work notice. The implementation of the plan comes at a time when citizens are grappling with deteriorating air quality index.

With the city gearing up for the withdrawal of monsoons, the air quality in Mumbai is likely to witness further worsening during winters — on October 1, when barely a day after showers had subdued, several pockets like Mulund, Colaba, Worli saw the air quality deteriorate by over 50 per cent.

The BMC was seeking to address air pollution emerging from construction sites which the Mumbai Air Pollution Mitigation Plan (MAPMP) has identified as one of the key contributors to the burgeoning AQI levels in the city. The MAPMP had enlisted an array of pollution control measures which included the charting of mitigation plans for city’s infrastructural works.

Now, the BMC has started implementing the plan with senior officials stating that the EMP will have to be submitted by the contractors executing infrastructure works to the civic department concerned.

“Essentially, the report will require the agencies to identify activities on their construction site which will degrade air quality and they will have to enlist they management plan to control and mitigate the identified source of pollution,” a BMC official told The Indian Express.

While the concept of a “pollution management” report is not unprecedented with developed mandated to submit similar plans to the MPCB, a senior official from BMC said that this the first time that the municipal corporation is implementing the plan for contractors on civic infrastructural projects.

“The report will also require the executing agency of the project to identify a person who will look after the implementation of the plan. This report will have to be submitted to the executive engineer of the concerned civic department,” explained an official. For the ease and convenience of the contractors, the BMC’s environment department has finalised a template chalking several required details, on the basis of which the report has been sought.

“In case of delayed submission of the report, the agency concerned will be levied a fine of nearly Rs. 1,000. If they fail to further adhere by the submissions, we will initiate further action such as issuance of stop work notice,” added the officer.