Mumbai: In an effort to curb air pollution, the BMC will soon ask housing societies and civil contractors to provide warm clothes or heaters to security guards on night duty so they don’t have to light bonfires to keep themselves warm.
Security guards at societies and work sites and youngsters often light bonfires using tyres, plastics and garbage along with wood.
A few days ago the BMC had ordered a complete ban on burning garbage at open places, including dumping grounds.
Mumbai's air quality index deteriorating day by day
As winter sets in, the air quality index in Mumbai is deteriorating day by day. There are around 6,000 construction sites in Mumbai and they are a major contributor of air pollution.
In October the BMC announced a slew of guidelines, including water-fogging during loading and unloading of material at construction sites, to curb pollution.
To prevent generation of airborne particulate matter, the civic body directed water-sprinkling on debris from the sites. The BMC also asked for the deployment of sensor-based air pollution monitors at work sites.
The municipality directed that any construction project that sprawls over one acre and is more than 70 metres high must erect 35-foot high tin or metal sheets. Sites spanning one acre must install at least 25-foot-high sheets. For BMC worksites as well as sites of ongoing metro works, barricades of 25 feet height were mandated.
Covering of construction and demolition sites
To prevent displacement of dust, the BMC directed covering of construction and demolition sites with green cloth or jute sheets, besides the usage of smog guns and water sprinklers.
In its guidelines for vehicles ferrying construction debris, the BMC said that each vehicle must be covered properly and must not be overloaded to avoid spillage of debris. It also called for mandatory cleaning of the tyres of the vehicles and sprinkling of water before exiting the construction sites to ensure that traces of dust are removed before plying on the roads.
The BMC also instructed that CCTV cameras should be installed at every construction site in the city.
