Mumbai’s skyline may be transforming rapidly, but the air surrounding it is thick with negligence. In a sweeping crackdown between October 2024 and February 2025, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued show cause notices to no fewer than 1,867 contractors for failing to implement dust mitigation measures at construction sites across the city.
The scale of violation has raised urgent questions about accountability amid an aggressive push for infrastructure modernisation. What’s even more alarming is that nearly 42 percent of these notices were issued not to private entities, but to contractors directly hired by public sector agencies for civic and infrastructure projects. Despite the BMC having laid out specific guidelines to control dust emissions in 2023, data suggests these norms are being systematically flouted – often at government work sites themselves. The 2023 dust mitigation guidelines, part of the city’s response to rising particulate matter and air quality deterioration, mandated simple yet effective steps: green or jute sheet covers for active construction areas, metal or tin barricading based on site dimensions, and strict compliance monitoring. But adherence has remained lacklustre.
The current figure of 1,867 notices marks a dramatic surge from earlier enforcement periods. Until May 2024, a total of 824 show cause and 901 stop work notices had been issued since the rules came into force. In contrast, the last five months alone witnessed nearly double that number, pointing towards escalating non-compliance as the pre-monsoon infrastructure sprint intensified. Of the total notices issued since October, approximately 1,091 were served to private contractors operating across over 2,200 ongoing sites. Another 776 notices were directed at contractors affiliated with government entities like the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), and Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC). These agencies are currently spearheading metro rail construction, bullet train corridors, road development and more.
However, a significant number of violations were also recorded within BMC’s own backyard. At least 328 of the cited contractors were directly appointed by the municipal corporation to carry out essential civic works such as road concretisation, sewerage system upgrades, and sewage treatment plant projects. In February 2025 alone, a staggering 295 show cause notices were served to contractors working on BMC-led projects – a jump from just 33 notices over the previous three months. The K/East ward, which includes bustling areas with dense commercial and residential footprints, saw the highest number of stop work orders – out of the 913 such orders issued across the city in the five-month window. Officials say this correlates with an intense concentration of construction activity, particularly the large-scale road concretisation push, which currently affects nearly 525 kilometres – translating to one in every four kilometres of the city’s road network.
This surge in construction, though positioned as a hallmark of Mumbai’s development journey, is also being increasingly viewed through a lens of environmental and public health impact. While infrastructure upgrades are critical to long-term urban resilience, particularly in a monsoon-heavy city like Mumbai, experts warn that unregulated emissions from these very works are undermining climate adaptation and air quality goals. An official from the civic environment department acknowledged that while there is growing awareness of the importance of mitigation, implementation lags behind. “We are penalising violators and initiating stop-work proceedings wherever repeated non-compliance is observed. But a more robust enforcement ecosystem is required. Dust control cannot be viewed as a cosmetic exercise,” the official stated.
Experts in urban environmental governance have voiced concerns about the symbolic nature of many such notices, pointing to limited ground-level impact. “Issuing notices alone does not deter entrenched violations. There must be follow-through – blacklisting repeat offenders, imposing monetary penalties, and even suspending work permits,” noted an independent environmental researcher. Residents in affected localities, particularly those near metro and concretisation corridors, report increased instances of respiratory distress, dust accumulation on residential premises, and decreased quality of life. Several citizen welfare associations have also raised demands for real-time pollution monitoring at construction sites and ward-level public dashboards to ensure transparency. As Mumbai barrels toward pre-monsoon deadlines with construction works at full throttle, questions remain about whether the city can achieve its infrastructural targets without compromising public health. The bigger concern looming is how civic and state agencies plan to reconcile their ambitious growth blueprints with the equally pressing need for sustainable and equitable urban environments.
While enforcement drives like these are welcome, the credibility of Mumbai’s green infrastructure agenda now hinges on turning regulatory paperwork into meaningful, visible action. For a city on the cusp of transformation, the time to choose clean progress over unchecked development is running out.
Mumbai Construction Sites Fail to Cut Pollution
