BMC : The measures taken by the administration to control air pollution in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation area should be speeded up along with the proposed works, especially for the control of dust generated from construction and demolition works, the Municipal Corporation should prepare a standardized procedure as soon as possible, directed Additional Municipal Commissioner (Western Suburbs) Dr. . Provided by Sanjeev Kumar.
The air quality level has deteriorated in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation area for the past few days due to meteorological reasons as well as due to dust generated from various development works going on everywhere. Considering this situation, the Chief Minister of the state Eknath Shinde and the Deputy Chief Minister instructed to take immediate measures. Given by Devendra Fadnavis. According to the instructions of Municipal Commissioner and Administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Western Suburbs) Dr. Under the chairmanship of Sanjeev Kumar, a review meeting was held today (March 8, 2023) at the municipal headquarters of the officers of various departments in the municipal administration.
Deputy Commissioner (Environment) Atul Patil, along with Special Duty Officer Sunil Sardar, representatives of the departments of Development and Planning, Roads and Transport, Mechanical and Electrical, Solid Waste Management, Solid Waste Management Project, BEST Activities etc. attended the meeting.
The administration has already taken long-term measures to control air pollution in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation area. However considering the need for recent air pollution control Budget Estimates, while others are in progress. An overall review of all these matters was taken in this meeting.
After the detailed discussion in the meeting, Additional Commissioner Dr. Sanjeev Kumar pointed out that dust is one of the major causes of deteriorating air quality levels. Although dust control is being done as per the guidelines of the Central Pollution Control Board, considering the geographical characteristics and needs of the Mumbai Metropolis, the Municipal Administration should have a separate Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the Mumbai Metropolis. Therefore, standardized procedures for dust control from construction and demolition works in Mumbai should be established immediately subject to the Central Pollution Control Board and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board regulations. Also, in accordance with this, the officials of all the relevant departments of the municipal administration and all the relevant stakeholders should organize a workshop next week and see that the dust control works are started immediately, Dr. Provided by Sanjeev Kumar.
A processing center will be set up at Gorai for western suburbs and at Navi Mumbai for city and eastern suburbs to process waste/road debris generated from construction and demolition works in Mumbai. The officials informed in this meeting that the total capacity of the processing centers at both these places will be 1,200 metric tons per day and the work orders in this regard have been given on February 7, 2023.
Similarly, the Municipal Corporation currently has 27 mechanical sweepers to remove dust and clean the streets. About 293 kilometers of roads are cleaned daily through it. On this line, 9 new electric brooms will now be purchased. It will be possible to clean a total of 252 km more roads with each electric broom which is 28 km per day. Similarly, the tender process has been started for purchasing 50 plants that can spray water on roads and traffic intersections and 50 plants that can spray water in a micro method for a total of 100 vehicles. Similarly, procurement of around 200 air purification vehicle plants is also underway. Officials said that dust abatement systems will be set up at Kalanagar, Mankhurd, Haji Ali, Dahisar and Mulund check points to arrest the dust in the air and the action is also in progress.
According to the Maharashtra Electric Vehicle Policy 2021, the administrative process of purchasing 35 electric vehicles for administration use is underway on behalf of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. So far 486 charging stations have been set up at different places in Mumbai by various authorities. On behalf of the Municipal Corporation, proceedings are underway to set up electric vehicle charging facilities at 25 more places. Similarly, procurement of around 2,100 electric single-decker buses and 900 double-decker electric buses under the BEST initiative is underway. The procurement process is scheduled to be completed by the end of September 2023. This will help in controlling pollution by giving preference to electric vehicles in public transport. Similarly, steps are being taken to convert old diesel vehicles to CNG as per the instructions of the government. Similarly, out of 652 Traffic Signal Junctions (traffic signal junctions) in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation area, 258 Traffic Signal Junctions have been automated so far. IIT Mumbai has been appointed as a consultant to make the rest of the traffic lights Dive Chowk also operational on the automated system in a phased manner. The concerned officials informed in this meeting that the report is expected from them by June 2023.
Additional Commissioner Dr. about air pollution arising from solid waste. Sanjeev Kumar did a complete review. On behalf of the Municipal Corporation, a project is being set up to generate 4 MW of energy by scientifically processing 600 tonnes of solid waste per day at Deonar Landfill. Task orders have been given for this and it is planned to complete the work of this project in October 2025. Municipal Corporation has also started processing centers at Oshiwara, Dharavi and Malad for scientific treatment of domestic hazardous waste. Apart from this, eight more such centers will be started and through these new eight centers, it will be possible to process about 4 tons per day, i.e. a total of 32 tons of household hazardous waste per day. Officials mentioned that the terms of reference for this new center have also been given.
To monitor air quality in Mumbai Metro Maharashtra Centers have been set up at 11 places by the Pollution Control Board and at 9 places by the Indian Meteorological Department under ‘SAFAR’. On this line, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will now set up air quality monitoring centers at five places namely Shivdi, Govandi, Pantnagar (Ghatkopar), Veermata Jijabai Bhosle Botanical Garden in Byculla and Charkop (Kandivali). Task orders have also been given for the same. Information was also given on the occasion that all the five centers are planned to be operational by May 15, 2023.
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