With only two days remaining until the deadline to deploy anti-smog guns at construction sites, civic authorities in Mumbai have escalated their efforts. In the past two days, approximately 112 stop-work notices have been issued to builders and contractors involved in various infrastructure projects in the city. As of Thursday, the BMC had already issued 575 stop-work notices to those who failed to adhere to guidelines aimed at controlling air pollution. The civic body has explicitly warned of filing FIRs against builders who persist in construction activities despite receiving stop-work notices from the BMC.
6,690 construction and infrastructure sites in the city
Currently, there are 6,690 construction and infrastructure sites in the city, with 1,000 of them having received intimation letters. Special squads, numbering 96 in total and distributed across all 24 administrative wards, are conducting daily inspections of these sites. Sites found to be non-compliant with the prescribed guidelines are being promptly issued stop-work notices. However, some construction sites have reportedly ignored these notices and continued their activities. A senior civic official stated that ward-level squads are revisiting such sites to ensure compliance with dust mitigation measures, and FIRs will be registered against violators. The deadline of 30 days concludes on Friday, and sites failing to deploy anti-smog guns may face additional stop-work notices or potential sealing.
Many Infrastructure projects underway in western suburbs
A significant number of infrastructure projects are underway in the western suburbs, contributing to a higher incidence of violations in areas like K East (Andheri East), H East (Bandra Kurla Complex - BKC), and Bandra East, according to civic sources. The H East ward recently issued a stop-work notice to the casting yard of Metro Line 2B at BKC, and a few days earlier, a similar notice was issued for Metro 3 works at BKC. On Monday, an FIR was registered against a builder in Vile Parle for continuing work despite a stop-work notice. The BMC has recently relaxed norms, allowing contractors to reduce the height of tin sheets from 35 feet to 25 feet, which are erected around the periphery of construction sites. The BMC issued a set of 27 point guidelines for construction and infrastructure sites on October 25.
