Then Delhi Now Mumbai, Indian Metropolises Suffers In Air Quality: Report (Image:Unsplash.com)
According to the recent reports, Mumbai’s air quality has gone weaker several times in one week than Delhi’s, and the capital city is seen better than the densely populated India’s west coastal metropolis. As a report by the Bloomberg states, Mumbai’s air quality index (AQI) climbed to the highest 171 on Wednesday morning. The AQI is a number/ an indicator, that the government agencies use to communicate how polluted the air of a specific area is. It is a 1-500 yardstick and as air pollution level rises, so does the AQI.
As per the findings of the air quality tracker IQ Air, a Swiss air quality technology company, Mumbai ranked 171 on the AQI index and it is about 19 times the World Health Organisation (WHO) annual air quality guideline figure. The large-scale construction projects in the city and the worsened road traffic aggravated the pollution in the city.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation of Mumbai issued a statement on October 22, and said that the weather changes severely impacted air quality in Mumbai. Iqbal Singh Chahal, the Municipal Commissioner and Administrator of BMC directed various measures to tackle the situation.
The city has asked its construction sites to cover themselves with at least 35-feet-high (11 meter) sheets to block dust, reported the Bloomberg. Sprinklers were also started installing to spray water “at least four to five times a day to prevent dust from flying”. To control dust, mist machines by the Corporation, are now in operation at various locations, including Worli Sea Face, Haji Ali, Peddar Road, Swarajya Bhoomi (Girgaon Chowpatty), Nariman Point, Fashion Street, Badhwar Park, the World Trade Center, and so on.
Weather changes have severely impacted air quality in Mumbai Metropolitan City and Mumbai Metropolitan Region too. Municipal Commissioner & Administrator of BMC, Shri Iqbal Singh Chahal, has directed the implementation of measures to address the issue of air quality.… pic.twitter.com/AALuZMemJS
— माझी Mumbai, आपली BMC (@mybmc) October 22, 2023
Anti-smog machines and small trucks with canons that spew mist will also be deployed. They will be active on the major roads of the city in the morning time. “Air pollution has resulted in some 29,000 deaths in Mumbai so far in 2023 and cost about $2.9 billion in productivity, according to calculations by IQAir in partnership with Greenpeace Southeast Asia”, says the report.
