Mumbai Pollution: BMC issues notice to stop work at Bullet Train site, show cause to BKC Metro project

Amid intense scrutiny over Mumbai’s deteriorating air quality, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday, December 26, issued a stop work notice at the Bullet Train construction site at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) for alleged violation of air pollution mitigation norms.

The civic body also served a show cause notice to the Metro Line 2B construction site in BKC, seeking an explanation for non-compliance of prescribed dust and pollution control guidelines.

The action is as follows Bombay High Court made strong comments

While hearing a suo motu PIL on Mumbai’s poor air quality and widespread violations at construction sites earlier this week.

On December 23, the court pulled up the BMC and the Maharashtra government, remarking that the civic authorities appeared to have taken action only after judicial intervention. Amicus curiae Darius Khambatta informed the bench that despite earlier directions of the court, several major public infrastructure projects and road concretization works were found violating pollution control norms.

The court was also told that although there are more than 1,900 construction sites in Mumbai, only 600 have complied with the requirement of installing air quality index (AQI) monitors. It questioned the effectiveness of inspection and enforcement by civic authorities, noting visible pollution across the city.

Emphasizing that it did not want development work to be halted but sought strict compliance, the bench directed the Maharashtra government to frame guidelines to protect the health of construction workers and asked the BMC to submit a detailed report on measures to prevent air pollution.

Also read: Delhi’s air quality improves as overall AQI falls into ‘poor’ category