‘No consensus’; BMC delays dust mitigation plan announcement

On October 20, The Indian Express published the first set of its “Death by Breath” series on the city’s pollution, flagging the scale of the challenge, the glaring gaps between authorities’ intention and implementation, and the road ahead.

The series featured an investigation of at least six construction sites across the city where construction — both by government and private agencies — continues and focused on why construction dust contributing to PM2.5 and PM10 pollutants is behind the surge in respiratory diseases and putting residents, especially children, in harm’s way.

Following this, municipal commissioner and state appointed administrator, Iqbal Singh Chahal announced that a new dust mitigation plan would be announced on October 23.

He also issued oral guidelines maintaining that all the construction sites will have to set up metal and tin sheets ranging between a height of 25 feet and 35 feet, to prevent dust displacement from the sites.

No official guidelines were officially published by the civic authorities till Monday evening. When contacted, Chahal told The Indian Express that the process of publishing is still under process. Civic sources, however, said that the real estate stakeholders have asked the civic authorities for additional time to adhere with the norms.

“They have asked for some time from BMC… to make logistical arrangements. We have asked them to set up metal sheets as well as water sprinklers and smog guns. Therefore, we are not taking any action against them immediately and are willing to give them a week’s time,” a senior official privy to the development said.

Over a six-year period from 2016 to 2021, a total of 14,396 individuals in Mumbai lost their lives due to COPD. (Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)

“The draft of these guidelines is likely to be signed on Wednesday (October 25),” said another official.

Earlier on October 20, Chahal had a 90-minute-long meeting with the heads of several civic departments, government agencies like MMRDA, MHADA, SRA, BEST and PWD.

In the meeting private stakeholders like CREDAI, the apex body of real estate firms, were also present.

Dr. Anand Gupta, Chairman of RERA & Housing Committee of Builders Association of India said the dust generated from construction sites is less compared to that generated in public infrastructure project sites and BMC assess both of them separately. “Construction is restricted at night at building construction sites noise as is generated,” he said.

Gupta said that the proposed requirement to install a 35-foot barricade around construction sites is harsh.

Keval Valambhia, chief operating officer of CREDAI-MCHI said that the builders association has collectively given some suggestions to the BMC.

“Instructions were given by the civic commissioner to raise the height of the barricades to 35 feet. The association sought to know what was to be done where there are already barricades of 20 feet height. We have asked for relaxation where Instead of increasing the height of the barricade, the developer be allowed to put a green cloth cover,” he said.

The BMC plans to set up 50 squads in each of the city’s 24 civic wards to conduct random checking at construction sites to ensure compliance with dust control measures.

Violations of the guidelines would result in immediate stop-work notices issued by BMC, according to Chahal.

BMC also will keep a check through CCTV cameras on construction sites as per its proposed plans to curb air pollution.

Meanwhile, ANAROCK, a private real estate services company, said that a prolonged halt in construction activities particularly for those that are not adhering to the proper dust and pollution control measures will impact the timely delivery of real estate projects in Mumbai.

ANAROCK Chairman Anuj Puri mentioned that there are around 4 lakh housing units under construction in Mumbai, and a one-month construction ban can lead to a delay of at least 3-4 months in completion of these projects.