Mumbai

The Maharashtra government and civic authorities have intensified action against air pollution in Mumbai, issuing stop-work notices to more than 1,000 construction sites for violating environmental norms, state Environment Minister Pankaja Munde told the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

In a written reply on air quality index (AQI) levels, the minister said that between October 2025 and January 2026, authorities issued 1,981 show-cause notices and 1,047 stop-work orders across the city under the ongoing “Clean Air” initiative.

Munde informed the House that as of January, 1,952 out of 2,224 active construction sites—nearly 88 per cent—had installed low-cost air quality sensors, reflecting a push towards technology-driven monitoring. However, she noted that 678 projects were ordered to halt work on January 16 alone for failing to comply with sensor installation norms.

Rejecting claims of a public health crisis linked to air pollution, the minister cited reports from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, which stated that no adverse health impacts were recorded among vulnerable groups such as children and senior citizens, despite AQI levels fluctuating between ‘satisfactory’ and ‘moderate’.

“We are following a strict escalation matrix for violators. Construction projects that fail to follow dust-mitigation guidelines are first issued an intimation, followed by a show-cause notice, and then a stop-work order if non-compliance continues,” Munde said.

She added that AQI levels in Mumbai generally remained within the ‘satisfactory’ (51–100) and ‘moderate’ (101–200) ranges during the period under review.

As part of enforcement efforts, the BMC’s 25 ward-level flying squads penalised illegal debris transportation, collecting fines totalling over Rs 1.21 lakh between October 2025 and January 2026.

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To tackle the “dust menace,” the government has deployed 126 water tankers and 25 misting machines to wash around 14,408 kilometres of city roads, the minister said.