BMC’s toothless mandate to mitigate air pollution exposed; only 4 wards comply

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had set up a task force in March this year to mitigate air pollution. To achieve this objective, it asked ward officers to submit reports on punitive actions taken against people or agencies contributing to air pollution every 15 days to the environment department. Over six months later, as Mumbai is facing poor air quality again, the civic body has learnt that only four of the 24 wards have carried out the mandate since April and submitted the reports.

Earlier this year, the air quality had deteriorated for three months, hovering between poor and very poor levels. At the time environmentalists had attributed the pollution levels to large-scale construction being carried out for infrastructure projects, residential and commercial towers, and redevelopments old buildings, in addition to emissions from vehicular exhaust and resuspension of road dust.

To alleviate the crisis, the civic body had constituted a seven-member committee headed by the then additional municipal commissioner Dr Sanjeev Kumar to find solutions. The committee submitted a 41-page report titled ‘Mumbai’s Air Pollution Mitigation Plan’ to civic chief Iqbal Chahal and prepared SOPs to combat air pollution, which came into effect from April 1.

As part of these SOPs, a three-level task force was to be formed at every ward comprising of eight different departments. They were authorised to take speedy action on builders by issuing warning and stop work notices on construction activities in case of non-compliance. A report on action taken was to be submitted weekly to the assistant commissioners of the respective wards and once fifteen days, they were to be sent to BMC’s environment department, including the additional commissioner.

The four wards that have followed the rules are: P North ward (Malad east and west), K west ward (Jogeshwari west, Andheri west and Vile Parle west), H West ward (Bandra west, Khar west, Santacruz west) and L ward (Chandivali, Sakinaka, etc). “We have been sending regular reminders to the wards to comply and send us the report regularly but only four have sent it,” said Minesh Pimpale, deputy municipal commissioner, of the environment department.

So why have the other wards failed to comply with the rules?

Ward officers – that have both followed and flouted – are of the opinion that the SOPs formed by the committee to mitigate air pollution is “responsibility without any authority”. A ward officer requesting anonymity, said, “The laws for penal action in the SOPs are very unclear. There had to be clarity on which sections an FIR or threatening clauses can be filed, or when stringent action can be taken.” He explained, while in the case of an illegal encroachment, there are clear guidelines on action, the same is unclear in the SOPs to combat air pollution.

Another ward officer said, “We only have powers to inspect and none to take stringent action. We are supposed to report violations to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB). Thereafter, the procedure to take action on them is different.”

Meanwhile, two ward officers who are part of the task force, said they are overworked with other responsibilities as well. “Some of the members of the task force are the same engineers who also look after routine work. We also participated in many initiatives taken up by the chief minister, such as cleanliness drive, action on illegal hoardings, etc. So, it is difficult to monitor and submit report this frequently,” he said.

The task force which was to be formed at every ward is also supposed to monitor construction sites, hotels and residential areas. Each team has to report to the respective ward officer.

The committee’s objective was to identify the reasons for the high degree of pollution enveloping the city and suggest measures to curb it. In the course of preparing the report, it was learnt that ongoing infrastructure projects such as metro, roads, storm water drains, coastal roads, STPs, etc are polluting the air. The committee proposed to devise a monitoring mechanism for various ongoing projects.

An official in the environment department said, “After the SOPs were formed, the AQI improved – there was clean air during the monsoons, hence the wards did not follow it. We are working at various levels including implementation of climate action plan so this will be resolved very soon.”