MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued a stop-work notice to Prestige Towers located at Mahalaxmi due to non-compliance with pollution mitigation guidelines. The notice details multiple violations concerning air pollution controls.
The notice, delivered by the BMC’s G-South ward on November 28, outlines that the developer failed to surround the construction site with a 35-foot tin barricade, to regularly sprinkle water on the site during demolition, and to utilize stationary or mobile anti-smog guns during loading and unloading, among other directives set by the civic authority.
Officials from the G-South ward reported that over the past month, 30 notices have been issued throughout the ward for similar violations.
Activist Santosh Daundkar emphasized that the responsibility for monitoring pollution and air quality should not rest solely on the BMC. He suggested that the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) needs to enhance its efforts by deploying more field staff. “A separate or regional board, analogous to the MPCB, should be established specifically for Mumbai. Currently, heavy vehicle movement from construction sites occurs between 12 and 4 AM, contributing to dust pollution that affects morning walkers and students. The civic body must take impartial action against all construction sites causing pollution; some sites have yet to receive notices,” stated Daundkar.
In Navi Mumbai, the NMMC has similarly halted 18 construction projects for failing to meet air and noise pollution prevention standards. These actions followed inspections of 85 project sites conducted by the Town Planning Department’s engineering teams.
