BMC issues ‘Stop Work’ notice to Prestige project in Mulund

A week after the Express series highlighted the deteriorating condition of Mumbai’s Air Quality Index (AQI) amid unmonitored construction work, the BMC on October 25 issued a fresh charter of guidelines for air pollution mitigation in the city. The directive called for the immediate deployment of enforcement squads on ward level to ensure that construction sites abide by its guidelines.

Taking stock of the civic directives, the enforcement squad from T ward, which comprises Mulund, visited the The Prestige City construction site to discover that they were not adhering to the guidelines on several grounds, including not covering the periphery of the site with tin/metal sheets, green or jute clothes. The civic body said that the vehicles transporting the debris had also not been covered, as mandated by the civic guidelines.

Owing to the violations, the construction site was served an immediate “Stop Work” notice until full compliance with the civic guidelines. “Failing to adhere to this notice, the work site may be sealed as per the guidelines,” read a portion of the notice.

The civic body has also directed the construction site to install water sprinklers and smog guns over the 30 days.

During an earlier visit to Yogi Hills, Express found an Ready Mix Concrete (RMC) plant, which the civic body’s MAPMP has identified as one of the major contributing factors to air pollution, in the middle of a bustling residential cluster at the Ghati Pada locality.

Local resident Bharat Soni, who is the secretary of the Hillside Residents’ Welfare Association, also alleged that trucks ferrying debris from nearby construction sites, including The Prestige City work site, were never fully covered or protected per norms, leading to the dust polluting the air.

On Monday, Soni confirmed that the construction work at The Prestige City site has now stopped. “We are not anti-development but development should not come at the cost of people’s health. Air pollution is so high that in our locality almost everyone faces breathing and respiratory issues. Since the monsoon withdrawal, we have been approaching the project manager of Prestige City consistently asking them to sprinkle water on the streets to settle the dust… but our requests fell on deaf ears. Shops and vehicles inside the building are also always covered in a film of dust,” he said.

In a statement on Monday, The Prestige Group said, “The Prestige Group has an obligation to deliver homes on time to our homeowners and we always do so with an equal obligation and responsibility towards the environment and the community we develop our properties in. The new guidelines were issued on Oct 25, 2023 by the BMC to all private and public bodies and, like others in the industry, we have immediately initiated actions to ensure compliance with these guidelines. We are among the select developers who had already installed and deployed two anti-smog guns more than a year back.”

“It is also a standard practice at Prestige to have dust/safety screens across all floors where active construction work is happening, high periphery fencing on the boundary of the work sites, covered debris trucks, wheel washing facilities for construction vehicles and continuous cleaning/water sprinkling on the roads to curb the impact of construction activity. Compliance of guidelines will take some time but we are working expeditiously to achieve the same. As a responsible organisation, we will continue to ensure that we action the requirements as prescribed by the authorities,” the statement added.