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‘Must bring air pollution down below 50’: HC tells BMC, MPCB to inspect 7 project sites | Mumbai News

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The Bombay High Court on Monday said the Air Quality Index (AQI) in the city should be brought down to below 50 and directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) to carry out a joint inspection at seven sites and ensure all air pollution control norms are followed at these locations.

“We also direct that in case any of the stakeholders at these sites do not follow norms, legal action shall be taken by the BMC and the MPCB,” the court said.

The projects included road concretisation at St Anthony’s road, Bandra and Madhu Park road, Khar along with Bullet train site near BKC, Versova Bandra sea link, Mumbai Metro-Line 3, Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) and Mumbai Coastal Road.

The court also said the Air Quality Index (AQI), which at the time showed a moderate level of 100 to 200, should be brought down to below 50, which indicates a “good” AQI level in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

A division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Girish S Kulkarni passed a slew of directions while suo motu hearing a PIL initiated after noting various news reports in recent weeks – including the ‘Death by Breath’ series of The Indian Express – presented an ‘alarming scenario’ of air pollution.

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The bench referred to a weekly report of a panel formed by it and found that though air quality in the city improved, AQI levels had to come down further.

“AQI is still largely at a moderate level, which is an indicator this air quality will still pose a breathing discomfort to people with lung and heart diseases, children and senior citizens. The satisfactory level is 51 to 100 AQI and a collective effort is needed to bring the AQI below 50,” the bench said.

Advocate General Birendra Saraf, representing the Maharashtra government, submitted that the MPCB and other departments were taking action to reduce air pollution. Senior advocate Milind Sathe for BMC submitted it had complied with previous HC orders where 1,632 construction sites were visited and notices were issued. On the basis of these, stop work notices were issued. He submitted that of 29 monitoring stations, five were run by BMC and further steps to add such sites were being taken.

However, senior advocate Darius Khambata, appointed as amicus curiae to assist the court, referred to a news report related to seven public project sites that generate dust, cause pollution, as well as worsening air quality.

Senior advocate Janak Dwarkadas, representing NGO Vanshakti, said there were discrepancies in AQI data on the CPCB and MPCB websites and a lack of monitoring equipment. He argued AQI was not an only parameter to measure air quality. He also sought directions for other relevant parameters – including PM (Particulate Matter) 2.5, PM 10 and SO2 – to be monitored.

The bench directed the CPCB and MPCB to provide details on the number of equipment available in MMR to monitor air pollution levels. It also asked the MPCB take immediate steps to ensure there were no discrepancies in the collection of air quality data and that all units installed function without any glitches.

The court further directed the BMC to create a complaint redressal mechanism with a dedicated app that uses the best technology to help it evolve and reflect complaints as well as action taken by the civic authority.

The HC directed the state government to consider a 2021 report by the ‘Committee for Identification of Policy Measures for reduction in road transport emissions within MMR’ and take a decision on the same within eight weeks.

The court also asked the state government to consider and take a decision on framing a legislative mechanism on patterns of central legislation in the National Capital Region (NCR) – Delhi in 2021 to identify and resolve problems related to poor AQI levels at the earliest.

The bench told the authorities to ‘be serious’ about the issue as people suffer due to the air pollution in the city.



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Mohd Aman

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