Mumbai, Apr 23 (PTI) The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday slapped a fine of Rs 1,000 on the Railway Protection Force (RPF) for openly burning a heap of old paper records just outside Churchgate station in south Mumbai.

The incident of the RPF burning the records took place on Tuesday directly below the Mumbai office of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, located within the Churchgate railway station building, which also houses several key railway offices.

A senior BMC official told PTI that as per the rule, the civic body has slapped a fine of Rs 1,000 for open air burning under the civic body’s cleanliness and health bye-laws 2006 records, to RPF Churchgate on basis of complaints received to them about the disposal of old office records by way of burning it.

As per the BMC official, in the letter written to RPF Churchgate, when the civic team reached the spot on April 22 evening after receiving a complaint, it found burning of records records was going on and hence it ensured to douse the fire immediately.

In the letter, BMC’s A ward warned the RPF about not burning anything, and also instructed to dispose the remaining old office records, which includes files, identity cards, registers and other things, in a proper manner, the official said.

S K Rathod, senior divisional security commissioner of Mumbai division of the RPF on Western Railway, did not reply to a query about the civic body’s action.

Over the past few months, Mumbai’s air quality has deteriorated, forcing authorities, including the municipal corporation, to take various measures, such as banning the open burning of garbage and increasing the fine for such violations tenfold, from Rs 100 to Rs 1,000. In the past, the civic body had also issued notices to roadside eateries and restaurants using charcoal tandoors.

A study by climate-tech firm Respirer Living Sciences found that PM10 levels (particulate matter with a diameter of 10 micrometres or less) in Mumbai have consistently breached the national safety threshold of 60 µg/m³—not only in winter but also in the summer—based on data collected over four years. PTI KK NP