The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) on Wednesday has asked the unit of ACC Concrete Limited on K J Somaiya grounds in Sion to stop manufacturing activities, apart from slapping a notice on the unit for causing air and water pollution in the area. The board has also directed the relevant authorities to stop water and electricity supply to the unit.

The residents of Everard Nagar had complained to municipal and government authorities on the nuisance the unit and the cement-mixer trucks had been causing in their locality. Saraswathi Sundareswaran, who has been spearheading the fight against the unit, had complained that trucks carrying raw materials and concrete often used the service road adjoining the housing society, leaving deposits of cement on the roads and posing health hazard to the residents.

PK Mirashe, assistant secretary (technical) of the MPCB, confirmed that the cement manufacturing unit had been sent a stop-work notice. "The action was taken against the unit after they failed to comply with the directions that were issued to them by us to reduce the pollution in the area," Mirashe said.

In its notice to the unit, the MPCB stated that its sub-regional officer had submitted a report stating that the unit had not provided adequate measures to mitigate pollution inside and outside the premises, and that they are not operating their pollution control system properly.

It stated that the unit had caused "grave and sudden injury" to the environment and also failed to comply with their proposed directions. It said: "Thus it is not expedient to extend the unit an opportunity of hearing."

A source from MPCB said, "We conducted a check and found that there were a lot of cement deposits that was indeed polluting the environment in the area. We issued the stop-work notice. As of what we checked last, the plant was not operational."

The residents of the society have welcomed the notice with gratitude but are still bothered by the fact that the plant can be reopened if the unit complies with the directives. "It does seem like a good relief for the time being. But if the plant is reopened, the problem will resurface. The sight of these huge trucks right outside our gates is very frightening. Their movements also shake our buildings," Sundareswaran said.

ACC Concrete Limited did not respond to queries from this newspaper, despite the copy of the notice being emailed to the company spokesperson.