Pune Municipal Corporation Halts Kothrud Construction After Dust Violations On Karve Road

Pune: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has ordered an immediate halt to a construction project in the Kothrud area after serious violations of dust-control norms were brought to light through citizen complaints and a viral video showing dangerously low visibility on Karve Road.

The action was taken on the instructions of Municipal Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram after the video showed motorists being forced to switch on headlights in broad daylight due to heavy dust generated by ongoing construction and dumper movement. A site inspection carried out by PMC officials, including Junior Engineer Manojkumar Mate and Deputy Engineer Kiran Kalashetti, confirmed that mandatory dust-mitigation measures had not been properly implemented.

Officials found that green safety nets were either missing or inadequately installed, and several environmental safeguards were ignored, violating norms laid down by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB). Acting on the inspection report and under the direction of City Engineer Aniruddha Pawaskar, the civic body issued a stop-work notice to the developer, Kotibhaskar Infra and Developers Private Limited. The project is located at Survey Nos. 9 and 10 near the Kaivalya Co-operative Society, an area characterised by narrow internal roads.

Highlighting the seriousness of construction-related pollution, Commissioner Ram cited a 2022 survey conducted by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), which revealed that construction activities contribute nearly 23 per cent of PM10 pollutants in urban air.

In response to rising concerns over air quality, PMC has also announced plans to make it mandatory for construction sites of 1,000 sq m and above to install air quality sensors. These sensors will be connected to a live monitoring dashboard to enable real-time tracking by civic authorities. As per MPCB guidelines, this requirement is already mandatory for construction projects spanning over 5,000 sq m.

Currently, around 650 construction sites in Pune exceed the 5,000 sq m threshold, of which 175 have installed air quality monitoring sensors so far. The remaining developers have been instructed to comply at the earliest and integrate their monitoring systems with the PMC dashboard.

Pawaskar added that PMC had issued stop-work notices to 220 construction projects in the past two months over dust pollution concerns, following which 193 developers implemented corrective measures to curb emissions.

To further control dust pollution, PMC has directed developers to adopt mitigation steps such as erecting metal sheet barricades of at least 25 feet along site perimeters, covering building structures with green netting or tarpaulin, conducting regular water sprinkling on exposed surfaces and internal roads, and using water fogging during loading and unloading of materials.

Construction materials, excavated earth and debris must be stored within the site premises and covered, while dust-generating activities like cutting and drilling should be carried out in enclosed spaces using vacuum-based dust-capturing equipment. Civic officials believe that strict enforcement of these measures, along with real-time monitoring, will play a crucial role in reducing construction-related air pollution and safeguarding public health in the city.