Despite regulations by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), mud-laden dumper trucks from a construction site in Milat Nagar, Lokhandwala, Andheri, are causing severe dust pollution along an 800-metre stretch of Best Colony Road. The debris affects over 10 residential towers and several shops.

The Lokhandwala Complex Environment Action Group first raised the issue with the BMC in September 2024, reporting that five to six trucks leave the site daily with wheels caked in wet soil. This soil is deposited along the road by the trucks. In dry months, it creates thick dust clouds; during the monsoon, the wet sludge spreads further through passing vehicles. In heavy rain, the soil gets washed off the carriageway and settles along the footpaths, creating dangerously slippery surfaces.

Rishi Agarwal, an environmentalist, local resident, and one of the founding members of the Lokhandwala Complex Environment Action Group, said, “It is unacceptable that on one hand, the BMC cleans roads using high-pressure water jets, and on the other, these trucks are making them muddy again. The issue is no longer limited to the public road. Along this stretch, vehicles turning into housing societies are carrying soil into their compounds. One housing society has even invested in an automatic cleaning machine to clean the approach road inside their premises.”