The Bombay High Court on Monday urged citizens to act responsibly and stressed the need to find effective solutions to improve Mumbai’s deteriorating air quality, as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) placed on record a series of steps taken to address rising pollution levels in the city.
A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad was hearing a batch of petitions concerning air pollution in Mumbai. During the proceedings, the court refused to grant an urgent hearing on an application filed by a consortium of real estate developers seeking to intervene in the matter.
Pursuant to the High Court’s directions issued last month, the BMC submitted an affidavit detailing various air pollution mitigation measures. These include integration of air quality sensors, issuance of stop-work notices under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), transition of bakeries to cleaner fuels, deployment of electric buses, installation of dust mitigation units at critical junctions, and operation of construction and demolition waste processing facilities.
The court had earlier also ordered the constitution of a committee to inspect construction sites in Mumbai as part of efforts to address the city’s poor Air Quality Index (AQI).
The committee, constituted on November 28, comprises officials from the BMC, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), the public health department, along with two advocates. Between December 6 and 13, the panel conducted site inspections across Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, including visits to Ready Mix Concrete (RMC) plants supplying material to construction projects. The committee also held meetings with the BMC after identifying areas with high AQI levels.
The panel’s report is expected to be submitted to the High Court later this week.
Emphasising the need for collective responsibility, the bench observed, “Let us find some solutions. Let us be responsible citizens,” while hearing the petitions.
The court posted the matter for further hearing next week.
The bench also declined to grant urgent hearing to the developers’ intervention plea, observing that it would first examine the extent to which real estate developers themselves may be in breach of pollution mitigation norms.
The developers had contended that compliance with court-mandated sensor-based air quality monitoring was not feasible, claiming that the BMC had authorised only 13 vendors who were allegedly unable to supply the required number of sensors.
The High Court, however, said it would consider the committee’s findings before issuing any further directions in the matter.
