The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has served notices to more than 100 contractors and real estate firms engaged in executing private and government projects, asking them to adhere to dust mitigation norms or face action, civic officials said as the metropolis battles poor air quality.

The BMC communication covers contractors and real estate firms in the P North civic ward in western Mumbai, mainly suburb of Malad, as the civic body seek to improve Mumbai's Air Quality Index (AQI).

Kiran Dighavkar, assistant municipal commissioner (P-North ward), told PTI on Friday that there are 97 under-construction private sites and 27 under-construction government projects such as roads, stormwater drains and bridges in the Malad area (total 124).

“We have issued (identically worded) letters to all of them to follow (dust mitigation and other anti-pollution) guidelines failing which necessary actions will be initiated,” Dighavkar said.

Last week, the civic body issued a new set of guidelines for mitigation of air pollution in Mumbai, and gave builders and contractors one month to acquire sprinklers and fogging machines at construction sites.

Clarifying the civic administration has not issued stop-work notices to entities engaged in construction as of now, Dighavkar insisted letters have been sent to ensure builders and contractors follow basic preventive measures against air pollution until they acquire sprinklers and fogging machines.

BMC's P-north ward has also issued a notice to the contractor of the ambitious Goregaon Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project in the western suburbs, asking them to follow air pollution mitigation guidelines.

“All the work of constructing roads, drains, bridges to be carried out by taking proper permission of construction and demolition. All the sites should have CCTV cameras to monitor vehicle movements,” reads the BMC notice to GMLR.

The notice emphasised the municipal commissioner has given instructions to follow the said rules in a bid to improve Mumbai's AQI.

If these instructions aren't followed then strict action would be taken against violators, it warned.

Earlier this week, Maharashtra minister Deepak Kesarkar, who is also the guardian minister of Mumbai district, told reporters that six technologies, including vehicles mounted air filters, have been identified for reducing air pollution in the financial capital.

As many as 350 buses of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking will be fitted with "vehicle-mounted filters" for "removal of impurities" from dust and other particles, Kesarkar had said.

As per the latest data of the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR-India), the overall AQI in Mumbai was recorded at 138 (moderate) on Friday at around 4.15 pm.

The air quality at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) on the last Friday morning was recorded as 'very poor' with an AQI of 301.

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