While Mumbai battles to breathe, the BMC establishes a seven-member panel to regulate air pollution

by Web Desk | Published: 13 Mar 2023

BMC Elections 2023
The city is expected to get a spring cleaning at the earliest, and some people may credit the upcoming G20 meetings on Mumbai's foggy horizon for this. Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal formed a seven-member committee on Sunday, led by Assistant Municipal Commissioner (Western Suburbs) Dr. Sanjeev Kumar, to recommend methods to minimize dust in the air, which has been identified as the leading cause of air pollution. Because the G20 activities are slated for the end of this month, the committee has been asked to deliver its report on dust-control measures within a week.
 
On Sunday, Chahal convened an urgent online review conference with BMC officials, including all Additional, Deputy, Joint, and Assistant Municipal Commissioners. Before the G20 conference, when international leaders would be in town, the necessity to limit air pollution has been severely felt. He notified city officials about a G20 Council trade and finance group conference scheduled for March 28-30, 2023, in Mumbai. The majority of conference locations and hotels where delegates will be housed will be the same as in December 2022. Chahal has mandated that based on previous experience, road repair, and other relevant works shall be conducted on all appropriate routes on schedule.
 
Moreover, Chahal stated that tourists should be provided with medical facilities and emergency medical assistance. He stated that all of these projects will be assessed and a simulated exercise would be performed on March 25, 2023. For the most part, the air quality in the Mumbai region has been deplorable due to the dust generated by the different development and construction projects operating at full capacity. With the addition of a shift in wind speed, the ideal dust storm has formed.
 
 
The committee's recommendations shall be rigidly implemented throughout the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation jurisdiction beginning April 1, 2023. Contractors and builders who are found in breach of the guidelines will face severe penalties, including the issuance of stop-work orders. "Air pollution has developed like never before in the Mumbai metropolitan metropolis," Chahal stated during the online gathering. The dust created by large-scale buildings, as well as numerous development operations, and variations in wind speed, were discovered to be the two key causes in the post-Covid period. Although natural circumstances are beyond human control, there are now over 5,000 construction sites in Mumbai. It is up to the government to reduce the dust emitted by these sites."
 
 
Image Courtesy: Twitter @fpjindia