Signature campaign to demand action against air pollution

Mumbai: A campaign led by a Navi Mumbai-based NGO Waatavaran, seeking action from authorities over deteriorating air quality in and around MMR, has racked up 14,440 signatures in just three days since it was launched

Mumbai: A campaign led by a Navi Mumbai-based NGO Waatavaran, seeking action from authorities over deteriorating air quality in and around MMR, has racked up 14,440 signatures in just three days since it was launched.

HT Image

The petition seeks concerned authorities such as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the state environment department, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and the Public Works Department to act against the air pollution.

The petition puts forth two demands in front of the concerned authorities. First, strict adherence to the Centre’s construction and demolition dust mitigation rules, which were released in November 2017, on the heels of the Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules (2016). And, Issuing widespread health advisory to citizens on high AQI days.

“All the construction and demolition activities in the city need to follow the guidelines issued by MPCB to mitigate the dust generation. This includes sprinkling of water to suppress dust re-suspension, Use of covering sheets of plastic or tarpaulin on construction material heaps that are easily airborne, covering debris that is dumped at temporary storage sites, and adequate covering on construction works, particularly side-facing residential areas,” said Bhagwan Keshbhat, founder, Waatavaran.

“However, these guidelines are not being followed in the city even when AQI levels are especially bad. December saw a heavy rise in days with high AQI numbers,” added Keshbhat.

Waatavaran’s signature campaign comes at a time when public interest in Mumbai’s air quality is at its peak, and demand for action at its loudest. On Tuesday, a civil society group — Mumbai First — hosted a closed-door consultation on the issue in the presence of officials from the MPCB, the Center for Policy Studies at IIT-Mumbai, KEM Hospital and state transport commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar.

VM Motghare, joint director (air) at MPCB, clarified at this meeting that a Graded Response Action Plan for Mumbai has been approved for implementation in the city. “The plan shall help the officials in identifying and controlling air pollution post a certain level of degradation of air quality. Additionally, hotspot identification for the micro-level understanding of sources of pollution has been undertaken by the MPCB for better monitoring,” he said.