Mumbai: In view of the low water stocks in the dams supplying the city and the 10% water cut in force, BMC’s standing committee rejected the civic body’s proposal to spend around Rs 8.3 crore to wash 677 km of city roads daily to curb air pollution.Committee members, including those from the ruling front, opposed the proposal. The state is reeling from drought and govt has sought over Rs 17,000 crore as central aid. BJP group leader Ganesh Khankar demanded the proposal be shelved over the city’s water situation. BMC estimates dam water will last till next June.Congress member Ashraf Azmi backed the plan to wash 377 city roads, saying: “The AQI today is 151, and BMC does not have any programme to curtail air pollution. There are 4,000 wells in the city. BMC had earlier said that it would revive wells to supply non-potable water in the city. However, nothing has been done so far. From where will you get the water required for washing roads, then?”Azmi also demanded that BMC implement a separate ‘Hydrant Policy’ to control rising air pollution and dust in Mumbai and strengthen water supply arrangements for the fire brigade and gardens.MNS member Yashwant Killedar said, “While the current situation may not be right for using water to wash roads, there is also the issue of road dust contributing to rising pollution. Using non-potable water is one of the solutions to control dust, but where will BMC get so much non-potable water when it has only one centre for treating sewage water? Why are you not working on creating infrastructure for processing sewage water? BMC should have looked at other solutions to control dust pollution without wasting water.”Civic officials pointed out that they intended to use non-potable water for washing roads. According to the civic body, regular cleaning of public roads with high-pressure water is an important measure to control dust pollution and would also help improve the overall cleanliness of the city.Under the proposal, water tankers equipped with jetting systems were to be deployed across the seven zones for 150 days. Tankers with capacities of 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 litres were to be used to spray roads with high-pressure water to control dust.