Measures to control rising AQI in Navi Mumbai yet to achieve tangible results

Navi Mumbai: Following the Supreme Court and Bombay high court's directive to get rid of rising pollution in the city, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) stepped up action while initiating measures to be implemented by stakeholders to address the burning issue.Since the Air Quality Index (AQI) remains poor and unhealthy, and the Nerul, Vashi, and Sanpada belt mustered the highest, the civic body is struggling to mitigate the situation despite all its actions. The Corporation's commissioner, Kailas Shinde, urged various govt agencies based in Navi Mumbai to enforce strict measures for air pollution control. Resentment is brewing among residents who have been complaining about the poor air quality in the city for the last few months. This prompted the civic body to enforce strict norms at construction sites to mitigate the pollution.
Shinde also served show-cause notices to three of its staff from the Airoli node for dereliction of duties in discharging their responsibility at a construction site and a nullah work where required pollution control measures were not taken.Authorities from various agencies were told to implement the required measures more stringently during a special review meeting. Senior officials of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation, and the Regional Transport Department connected to air quality in Navi Mumbai were part of the meeting.Residents are of the view that the agencies are doing little and talking more on this topic, which is plagued by thousands, as the AQI in the city remained unhealthy for the last few weeks. The average AQI in the city is hovering between 100 and 200 on a daily basis these days. Massive redevelopment, coupled with unmindful tree cutting, was the key reason for growing pollution, said nature enthusiast Gopal Das.Shinde said various authorities, including MPCB, MIDC, Cidco, RTO, PWD, National Highway Authority, Railways, and MMRDA, are all collectively responsible for air quality in Navi Mumbai, and it is necessary for all builders to follow the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) issued by the municipal corporation for air pollution control at construction sites under their control.More than 700 small and large construction projects are underway in the NMMC area through various authorities and private developers. Shinde directed that all these sites should be inspected at the departmental officer level and a report should be submitted within the next few days to ensure the SOPs were followed. He instructed that air quality in Navi Mumbai should be good, and if developers were found not following the SOP, the work should be stopped."If improvements are not made after that, a notice should be issued stating that the construction permission certificate will be cancelled. It was mandatory to install air quality monitoring devices at all construction sites, large and small, and integrate their details on the app," said Shinde. He urged that MPCB should install these devices at RMC plants, and MIDC and Cidco should install them at worksites being carried out through them and integrate them immediately. He also said an alert in this regard should be given to the NMMC departmental officers and the environment department, as well as the site supervisors and developers.The commissioner said that no negligence would be tolerated. He also clarified that the air quality monitoring devices should be purchased from authorised suppliers approved by the MPCB to ensure authenticity of the indices. Shinde also advised that, considering the large volume of heavy vehicles transported on highways in the Navi Mumbai area, regular checks should be carried out by the Regional Transport Office to ensure construction materials transported in heavy vehicles are completely covered and vehicles do not carry more than their capacity.He said it was necessary to control where construction and demolition waste, or debris, generated from construction and facility works in Navi Mumbai was disposed of and directed that the debris should be taken to the C&D Waste Plant at the solid waste management project site in Turbhe for scientific processing. Shinde also directed that instructions should be given to implement a GPS tracking system on vehicles carrying construction materials and debris and that action regarding geo-tagging should be taken promptly.