Sprinklers, teams of monitors: BMC wakes up to clear Mumbai dirty air

Apart from these, BMC commissioner and its state-appointed administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal also announced guidelines for vehicles transporting construction debris, including covering of vehicles with tarpaulin sheets.

Appealing to the state government’s transport department to not allow any diesel vehicle whose age-limit has passed to enter the city, Chahal said the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and BMC will depute experts to verify the level of pollution caused due to refineries, Tata Power plant and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers plant, and check their installations for their pollution-control measures.

These announcements came the day The Indian Express launched “Death by Breath”, the first set of its series on Mumbai’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 Mumbai where construction – both by government and private agencies — is going on 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.

Significantly, Chahal also said that a new Dust Pollution Control Guideline will be announced on October 23.

In March this year, the BMC had released Mumbai Air Pollution Mitigation Plan (MAPMP) guidelines that laid down procedures to be followed during construction and other activities that cause dust and pollution. In the MAPMP, the BMC also stated that action will be taken against violators who flout dust mitigation plans.

Sources in the BMC said that Friday morning the BMC commissioner took a 90-minute-long review meeting with senior officials from all the civic departments on the current status of the MAPMP. The meeting was also attended by officials from MMRDA, BEST, CREDAI, NAREDCO, SRA, MHADA and MPCB.

“Hardly 15 days have passed since the monsoon withdrawal has taken place, but it is observed that the AQI of Mumbai is being affected severely. Dust is a major reason behind the rising AQI status. Although real estate and infrastructure is a major component of the economy, there is also a major need to implement measures for keeping dust pollution in check,” Chahal said on Friday.

Read Death By Breath Series – Mumbai holds its breath | Why construction dust is lethal | BMC’s rulebook gets a burial

He also instructed that monitoring squads be set up at the ward level to carry out visits to every under construction site. Chahal said that 50 teams will be created in all the 24 municipal wards and each team will be assigned the task of carrying out surprise inspections at construction sites.

“If during the visit it is found that any site is flouting the dust mitigation norms, a stop work notice would be issued immediately,” Chahal said.

He also directed that in any land parcel where construction work is going on, iron and tin sheets should be erected along with green coloured jute cloth to avoid dust displacement. The height of the sheets should be 25 feet at sites where the size of land is not more than one acre. For larger parcels of land, 35-foot sheets should be erected.

The previous guideline issued in March mandated erection of sheets of 20 feet at the construction site.

Chahal also instructed that in every construction site, water sprinkling should be carried out at least five times a day.

To ensure reduction in dust particles on the roads, the BMC will also procure and deploy anti-smog vehicles. An anti-smog gun is a cannon-like device that sprays fine nebulised water droplets into the air so that suspended particulate matter gets absorbed. Usually, mounted on a vehicle, the guns are connected to a water tank and sprinkle water into a fine spray by passing it through high-pressure propellers.

Chahal also said that CCTV cameras should be installed in every construction site in the city to ensure that trucks leaving the site with construction debris are properly covered.

Earlier in March, the BMC in its MAPMP had identified dust arising from construction sites to be the primary cause of air pollution along with other factors like road dust displacement, open burning of solid waste and garbage.