Mumbai: The civic authorities are facing challenges in combating air pollution due to the deployment of ward staff for election duties. With most personnel occupied, inspections of construction sites are being hampered, leaving insufficient resources for dedicated teams, complaints civic officials.
The air quality in the city has worsened following the shift in wind patterns after the monsoon. Over the past two years, it has become clear that air quality consistently declines between November and February. Dust arising from construction sites, construction debris, road dust, usage of unclean fuels in restaurants etc were found to be the main source of increasing air pollution in the city.
To combat this issue, the civic body developed a mitigation plan that includes 27 mandatory guidelines for construction sites in October 2023. In the first week of October, civic authorities informed developers to implement necessary measures to prevent air pollution at their construction sites once again this year. However, many officials and civic staff are currently occupied with election duties for the upcoming state assembly elections.
According to sources, around 12,500 civic staff members are engaged in work related to the elections, with over 40,000 employees and officials expected to be involved during the voting and counting phases. "We had formed a team for inspecting construction sites, but most of the staff is tied up with election duties. As a result, inspections have been put on hold. The team will only become active again once they are freed from election responsibilities," said a senior official of the civic ward in the western suburbs.
Another official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, stated, "At the very least, staff from emergency services such as water supply and solid waste management should have been excluded from election duties. This would ensure that essential services continue to function smoothly during this critical time."
According to the 27 guidelines, construction and infrastructure sites are required to erect metal sheets around their periphery, cover all buildings under construction with green cloth, jute sheets, or tarpaulin, and implement continuous spraying of water during demolition.
Furthermore, civic officials have been directed to prevent activities that contribute to air quality deterioration, such as burning wood and other materials for cooking at construction sites, as well as lighting bonfires. However, civic sources indicate that site inspections in some wards will only resume after the assembly elections are concluded.
Each civic ward has a squad led by a senior ward official, along with two engineers, a police officer, and a marshal. Wards with a lower population and size will have two squads, while mid-sized wards will have four squads, and larger wards will have six squads. The enforcement squads are tasked with visiting construction sites, documenting conditions through videography, and taking stringent action against sites that fail to comply with the guidelines.
