November 28, 2025: With winter smog worsening air quality across the region, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has begun direct inspections at construction sites to ensure that dust- and pollution-control rules are being followed without exception. The initiative follows rising concerns over particulate pollution and repeated directives from Municipal Commissioner Dr. Kailas Shinde, who earlier instructed all departments to escalate monitoring. He also ordered that any construction site found violating norms should be shut down for a week.
Acting on these directives, Assistant Director of Town Planning Somnath Kekaan has assigned specific zones to engineers from the Town Planning Department and ward offices. These teams are conducting field inspections across active construction sites to assess dust and noise-control measures. Ward-level officials are simultaneously checking stone quarries, cement-based RMC plants, and bakeries or tandoors still using coal, all of which have been identified as contributors to urban pollution.
The move aligns with directions issued by the Bombay High Court during hearings of a suo motu PIL (No. 3/2023), which instructed civic bodies to ensure that pollution norms at construction sites are strictly implemented. In response, NMMC introduced a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on 1 August 2024 mandating a series of measures aimed at controlling dust, air, and noise pollution.
The SOP requires construction sites to maintain 20-foot metal barricades, carry out fogging and sprinkling, install wheel-wash systems, use fully covered vehicles for transporting loose materials, keep adjoining roads clean, store dust-generating materials under tarpaulins, and ensure acoustic enclosures for DG sets. CCTV monitoring, proper debris disposal, and adherence to working hours are also compulsory.
An NMMC official stated, “Construction activity is one of the major contributors to urban air pollution, and strict enforcement is essential to protect public health during the smog-heavy winter months.”
The corporation has warned that developers and contractors must comply with all provisions of the SOP or face penalties, including stop-work notices for serious violations.
