“I have got a lung infection because of the dust. Even at home I try to keep my windows shut. A lot of redevelopment is happening near my home as well as office,” says Rohini Vij, an HR professional at a fast food chain. Her workplace in Prabhadevi is undergoing renovation and refurbishment work, and what makes working even more difficult is the redevelopment of buildings around. She says the noise and dust are affecting their productivity. It does not help that it is the same situation in the area where she lives in Bandra.

Rohini is among the many people who are suffering as a result of the multitude of redevelopment projects underway all over Mumbai. According to this report, data from the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) shows 25,000 buildings will undergo redevelopment soon.

One of the reasons why redevelopment of buildings has seen such an increase is that in 2021 the government gave huge concessions on the premiums offered to builders. The premiums were discounted by 50%. Moreover, many of the buildings in Mumbai were built in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and may require more than just repairs.

While the residents of the buildings being redeveloped are usually happy at the prospect of a bigger, better house, there are certain fallouts of this boom in redevelopment that call for attention.

Read more: Explainer: Dharavi redevelopment — What lies ahead

Impact of redevelopment on health

The most obvious and immediate effect is on the health of the people living around the property being redeveloped. Such projects involve not just construction, but also the razing down of the previous structure. “There is dust when drilling work is done,” says Vijay Sapre, a building contractor.

Dust is released when the original building is demolished and also during construction activities like drilling, grinding and cutting. Builders are supposed to install sprinklers on the site to get the dust to settle, but one of the contractors we spoke to said builders don’t always make use of them. 

In 2023, Mumbai gained attention for all the wrong reasons: it was declared the second most polluted city globally in February according to Swiss air tracking index IQAir. A study conducted in 2020 by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-Bombay) shows that more than 71% of particulate matter in Mumbai’s air comes from road or construction dust.

Dr Prashant Chhajed, a lung specialist practising in Mumbai says, “There seems to be an increase in bronchitis episodes, cough, running nose and throat irritation.” He explains that dust causes irritation in the upper and lower airway. In the upper airway it can cause rhinitis leaving a recurrent cough and cold. If the dust reaches the lungs it can lead to bronchitis, wheezing, and even breathlessness. “Individuals with pre-existing lung disease are affected more,” says Dr. Prashant.

Read more: Heat, dust and other challenges facing construction workers in Mumbai

Effect on quality of life

Sunita Rewale stays in an informal settlement or a ‘wadi’ in Vile Parle. Her wadi and the building in front of it share a common wall. That building is now being redeveloped. “The houses in our wadi near the wall started shaking like there was an earthquake,” says Sunita while talking about the effect of the work. In fact, a cabinet fixed to a wall fell in one of the houses. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

Water and mud started seeping in through the ground into some of the houses when the work on the building started. When the residents of the wadi informed the contractor, they got it cleaned but said that they had no option but to drill in order to concretise the ground. Sunita recalls that in the first two to three months there was unbearable noise. This was particularly difficult on a few of the residents who work as chefs or in the merchant navy and have night duties.

Initially, the builder even refused to believe that residents of the wadi were working in these professions.

In the initial days, work would go on till late night, past the permitted time limit. The noise and the bright lights disturbed everyone around. Only after residents warned of complaints, the construction work stopped on time.

Recently, there was a 15-foot deep and 60-foot wide mudslide at the entrance of National India Block LIC Society in Vile Parle as a result of excavation being carried out for an SRA project going on in the neighbourhood. Heavy rains caused the piling foundation of the property under construction to collapse. Fourteen families have been evacuated from the building. Architect P S Deshpande filed a complaint with the police and the contractor has been booked for endangering lives. While cases like this seem to be rare, there are other more common consequences of redevelopment projects.

Savita Kulkarni who stays in Bandra, where several such projects are underway, points to other fallouts of the redevelopment boom. She says the immediate short-term effect is on the livelihoods of domestic workers, as they lose their jobs when buildings are demolished and residents move to other places. This shift also affects the business of other service providers in the area such as vegetable and fruit vendors.

Sunita, a domestic worker, lost a job, which she did for nearly 42 years. Her employer moved within Vile Parle, but far from her residence. He refused to pay for her commute, which led to her job loss.

Now, she might lose her second job, because another of her employers will shift if redevelopment of their building goes through. This means she would lose two of three jobs that she originally had.

Redevelopment and pollution

During redevelopment, construction material is brought and debris taken away. This means the entry and exit of huge trucks, often into small lanes. Savita remarks, “Due to the JCBs and cement mixers, vehicular traffic is getting affected.”

She also wonders about the traffic after construction of these buildings is complete. More residents in the newly constructed towers with a proportionate increase in the number of cars on the same roads means the traffic would surely worsen.

Often when the material is brought to the site, the adjoining footpaths bear the brunt of it. Vijay says that the builder is expected to repair any damage caused to the area outside the plot after completion of work. He also adds that no building material can be stored outside the plot, though it does happen. Nor can the builder park trucks with building material on the road for prolonged periods.

Pollution mitigation guidelines for redevelopment

According to the guidelines issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), builders are supposed to take the following measures to mitigate pollution:

• A twenty-foot high dust/wind-breaking sheet of tin/metal needs to be erected around the entire periphery of the property.
• Scaffolding should be hung with green cloth/jute sheet to cover the area under demolition. During construction, the sheet should cover the floor under construction as well as two floors below it.
• Crushing and demolition of material on site should be avoided.
• Water sprinkling should be carried out continuously to keep the debris wet. this process should be carried out during demolition, excavation, and construction.
• Water fogging should be carried out during excavation, and landing and unloading of material.
• Waste generated on the premises should be transported to BMC’s designated unloading site.
• There is a strict ban on dumping construction material and debris on footpaths, pavements, public roads and open areas.
• Mixing of material for plaster should be carried out in enclosed areas.
• All vehicles carrying construction material and debris should be covered to prevent it from becoming air-borne.
• The entry and exit points of the property under construction as well as nearby roads should be cleaned daily.

These guidelines are issued to the project proponent and on non-compliance, a letter is issued to them by the BMC asking for compliance within a week. In case of further non-compliance, a stop-work notice is issued to them.

Moreover, a circular issued by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), noise levels have to be kept below 55 dB(A) during the day and 45 dB(A) at night, with daytime being considered from 6.00 a.m to 10 p.m and night time from 10.00 p.m to 6.00 a.m.

However, Urvashi Purohit, an architect and urban planner, says it is difficult to monitor the decibel level of the noise from the site because it may vary depending on the activity.

Read more: Residents of Dharavi remain clueless, anxious about redevelopment plans

Recourse for residents

Urvashi says that builders may not always bother sticking to the rules because the fines charged for flouting the norms are nominal. Vijay says that residents can complain to the police or to the building department of the ward office, if construction work is carried out beyond 10 pm or before 7 am.

He also says that on receiving a complaint the BMC issues a stop-work notice to the builder. However, sometimes when the cops arrive on receiving a complaint, they don’t take action.

Redevelopment of buildings may be a necessary evil. But strict guidelines and their effective implementation is required to protect the well-being of the construction workers and of the people living around the redeveloped project.

Also read:

• Mumbai’s housing crisis: Is self-redevelopment the answer?
• Matharpacady: Resisting hot real estate deals to conserve century-old heritage
• Walkability: Endless roadblocks force Bandra residents to map their own roads