BMC takes steps to curb dust in Indian financial capital Mumbai

Pollution has been a serious concern in India’s financial capital city Mumbai for almost four months now. Officials claim, for the first time, due to extensive development and construction work in the city, the quality of air has deteriorated.

City’s administration BMC says dust has become a major contributing factor to air pollution and to control this, it has decided to form ward-level task forces to implement standard operating procedures (SOPs).

To control the dust, three task forces are being appointed in each ward. There are 24 wards in the city.

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“All the wards have already begun the procedure and started surprise visits too at the construction sites. They will be responsible for controlling the dust particles during the building constriction work. Through field visits, the project site will be regularly monitored for dust control. If they see a violation, then strict action will be taken including fines, warnings, and even stop work notices,” a senior official from the BMC said.

Secondly, to control pollution, road cleanliness will be monitored by the task force. The team will look after the roads which will be regularly cleaned, measures will be taken to control the dust on roads, water will be sprinkled, etc. It will also search for and locate places where garbage and other waste items are burnt, especially in open spaces.

Also Read |Mumbai overtakes Delhi to become most-polluted Indian city

Third, the task force will also monitor the usage of the type of fuel in hotels, restaurants, dhabas, bakeries, eateries, roadside stalls etc. It will cross-check the type of fuel being used at these places and will report the places where unclean fuel is being used.

BMC says the goal of the task force is to conduct inspections at the ward level and prepare reports based on their observations which can help to curb the pollution issue in Mumbai.

Mumbai has been more in news for air pollution compared to the national capitalDelhi. A recent survey even ranked Mumbai as the second most polluted city globally for a week between January and 29-February 8, 2023.

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