Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora has petitioned to the BJP-Shiv Sena controlled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to put a check on construction activities to reduce air pollution in India’s financial capital.
Deora switched from the Congress to the Shiv Sena and was sent to the Rajya Sabha. The Shiv Sena-BJP combine along with the NCP led by Ajit Pawar is running the government in Maharashtra and is also the dominant faction in the 227-member civic body, which is also the richest such body in the country.
Deora wrote a letter to BMC commissioner Bhushan Gagrani Thursday.
“Mumbai is now facing a “public health emergency”,” he wrote. “Prolonged exposure to high PM2.5 and PM10 levels increases respiratory illness, cardiovascular risk and long-term morbidity – directly impacting millions of citizens, including children and the elderly.
“This crisis demands “urgent, extraordinary and sustained intervention” from the civic administration. Air-quality management must become a year-round priority, not merely a seasonal response,” he wrote.
Aaditya Thackeray (L) and Milind Deora
Among the four “urgent, extraordinary and sustained” interventions that the MP has suggested, a temporary halt on all construction and road-digging activities tops the list.
“A temporary pause is the most effective immediate step. Daily, strict inspections across all construction sites with immediate shut down of any site violating dust-control norms,” Deora wrote.
Some were quick to spot the irony.
“Petition? What a joke. A leader of the ruling alliance is "petitioning" his own govt. Are you aware of the excuses your own Govt is making?” asked Aditya Paul, joint secretary and spokesperson of AAP in Mumbai.
Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray of the Opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) too had spoken about Mumbai’s sinking air quality, saying the city that never sleeps was competing with Delhi in the “terrible AQI” race.
He, of course, blamed the Mahayuti government.
“In Mumbai, builders and contractors are a priority for the BJP government while apart from the construction and demolition works, tree felling in the name of “development” is the new mantra of the BJP,” Aaditya wrote in a post on his X (formerly Twitter) handle.
Milind Deora, whose father Murli Deora was a minister in the Manmohan Singh government at the Centre, has also suggested mandatory washing and water-sprinkling of trucks transporting debris, cement, soil, and construction material with on-site washing bays as a compulsory requirement.
“Enhanced and continuous dust-suppression measures – including fogging, roadside water-sprinklers, and mechanical sweeping – particularly in hotspots with repeated AQI spikes,” Milind suggested. “Installation of independent real-time AQI monitors’ in construction and industrial clusters with ward-wise air quality data made public.”
The Rajya Sabha MP also suggested steep penalties and restrictions on future permits and tenders on repeat offenders.
“Delhi is going through a severe crisis. There is no question about it. In Mumbai too air pollution is on the rise…There is a difference between Delhi and Mumbai. In Delhi air pollution is largely due to stubble burning in Punjab. In Mumbai the air quality is deteriorating largely because of construction for infrastructure projects, road digging,” Milind said in a video posted on his social media Friday.
Milind shared data on Mumbai’s AQI. He said on 22 November, the AQI was 298 (unhealthy) and on 23 November it was 255.
A BMC Environment Status report for 2024-25 found Chembur with the highest concentration of PM2.5 and PM10. After January 2025 the highest PM2.5 and PM10 levels were recorded this October in Mumbai.
Aaditya cited the Devendra Fadnavis government’s decision to de-regularise the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai to open it for development and Nashik’sTapovan as examples of BJP’s turning a blind eye to environmental issues.
“This Tapovan, after the forest has been destroyed and Kumbh is over, will be handed to the Adani Group by the BJP. All they care about is builders and contractors, not citizens,” Aaditya wrote. “I wonder in what good faith will this current regime hold Mumbai Climate week? To show how the BJP regime is destroying environment?”
The BMC on Friday issued stop-work notices to 53 construction sites for not adhering to pollution control guidelines issued by the civic body.
The BMC had issued a 28 point guideline in October last year.
A Bombay High Court bench led by Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad, during a recent hearing on a case on air pollution in Mumbai, had remarked ash clouds from the volcanic eruption in Ethiopia could not be blamed for air pollution in Mumbai as the AQI had been poor for a long time.
Actor and environmental activist Sayaji Shinde went to Tapovan on Saturday. “The tenders issued for Tapovan are wrong. The chief minister must understand the public sentiment of Nashik residents. If anyone attacks our trees we will not stay silent.”