No Anti-Pollution Curbs In Mumbai, Civic Body Clarifies As AQI Improves

Mumbai's air quality has shown a marked improvement since November 26, owing to multiple pollution-control measures in the city and its suburbs, while show cause notices have been issued to 482 construction sites for violating pollution norms, the BMC said on Monday.

The civic body said 264 among the 482 construction projects have been served 'stop-work' notices.

"The show-cause notices have been issued to 482 construction sites across Mumbai for allegedly violating air pollution control guidelines and contributing to deteriorating air quality," civic officials said.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) also clarified that the Graded Response Action Plan Stage-4 (GRAP-4), a set of tough restrictions aimed at curbing air pollution, is not applicable to Mumbai at present, though intensified monitoring has been instructed.

Municipal commissioner and BMC administrator Bhushan Gagrani has directed officials to continue taking strict action against private construction sites as well as government and non-government projects that violate the civic body's 28-point dust and pollution-mitigation guidelines, according to a release.

The BMC said the improved wind speed, along with enforcement measures such as notices to errant construction projects, misting, water sprinkling, road-washing, awareness drives, and moves by bakeries and crematoria to shift to cleaner fuels, have contributed to the improvement in AQI (Air Quality Index) over the past 48 hours.

The wind speed, which was 3-4 kmph before November 28 with high humidity, has now increased to 10-18 kmph, aiding pollution dispersion in the financial capital, the civic body noted.

The BMC has formed 94 ward-level flying squads to oversee the implementation of pollution mitigation measures. These teams are inspecting private sites as well as road and metro project stretches, issuing stop-work notices wherever violations are detected.

The squads are also checking sensor-based AQI monitoring equipment at construction locations, the release claimed.

AQI is a number used by agencies to show air pollution levels in an area. There are 6 AQI categories, which are good (0-50), satisfactory (51-100), moderately polluted (101-200), poor (201-300), very poor (301-400), and severe (401-500).

Mumbai's GRAP-4 rules mostly cover construction sites, small industrial units, and related activities.

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