Pollution crackdown: 88 per cent construction sites in Maharashtra receive 'stop-work' notice

NEW DELHI: In a sweeping crackdown connected aerial pollution, the Maharashtra authorities has issued stop-work notices to much than 1,000 operation sites crossed Mumbai, with astir 88 per cent of progressive projects facing enactment for violating biology norms, Environment Minister Pankaja Munde informed the authorities legislative assembly connected Tuesday.Presenting information from October 2025 to January 2026 nether the ongoing “clean air” initiative, Munde said 1,047 stop-work notices and 1,981 show-cause notices were served to errant sites arsenic authorities tightened enforcement against particulate and contamination violations.Of the 2,224 progressive operation projects successful the city, 1,952 — astir 88 per cent — person installed low-cost aerial prime sensors, portion the remaining faced strict penalties.On January 16 alone, 678 projects were ordered to halt operations for failing to comply with mandatory sensor installation norms, underscoring the government’s propulsion for technology-driven monitoring of contamination sources.“We are pursuing a strict escalation matrix for violators. Construction projects failing to adhere to dust-mitigation guidelines are archetypal fixed a ceremonial intimation, followed by a show-cause notice, and past a stop-work bid if they stay non-compliant,” Munde said successful a written reply connected AQI levels.

The curate asserted that Mumbai’s aerial prime has mostly remained wrong the ‘satisfactory’ (51–100) and ‘moderate’ (101–200) categories. Refuting allegations of a nationalist wellness crisis, she cited reports from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), which recorded nary adverse wellness impacts among susceptible groups specified arsenic children and elder citizens during the fluctuation successful aerial quality.As portion of intensified enforcement, the BMC’s 25 ward-level flying squads person been targeting amerciable debris transport, collecting implicit Rs 1.21 lakh successful fines during the 4 months.To tackle the city’s persistent particulate problem, authorities person besides deployed 126 h2o tankers and 25 misting machines, washing implicit 14,408 kilometres of roads.