Mumbai shrouded in smog as AQI reaches hazardous levels, sparking concerns over temporary pollution control measures | Photo Credits: Vijay Gohil
Mumbai: Mumbaikars continue to suffer because of the ‘Poor and Unhealthy’ air quality index (AQI). On Thursday, the skies continued to remain smoggy with the poorest visibility.
Although the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has sprung into action and is implementing its Dust Mitigation Plan this week to control air pollution, citizens demand long-term solutions rather than temporary measures.
“Hope the BMC can act on unsupervised constructions causing air pollution. Our suggestions/objections fall on deaf ears,” Rotna Das, an activist and resident of South Mumbai said.
As of December 25, the civic administration teams visited 868 construction sites across the city and notices were served to 28 construction sites for not complying with air pollution control guidelines.
On Thursday, as part of its special drive for dust mitigation, the BMC cleaned and washed 128 roads spanning 263 kilometres using E-sweepers, water sprinklers, misting, anti-smog and other machines to clear the accumulated dust. A total of 197 tons of construction debris and waste was also collected and as much as Rs 97,100 of penalty was collected from the defaulters.
However, these are all temporary measures and the authorities fail to find any permanent solutions to allow citizens to breathe clean air, Mumbaikars complain.
Naazish Shah, a civic activist and resident of Bandra said, “The government prioritises infrastructure works over citizens health. The authorities should plan better and not permit the digging of roads and new constructions all at a time. Across the city, major roads are dug up and it takes over an hour to travel across suburbs by road. More vehicles on roads, add to the pollution.”
“The BMC should focus on public transport, like increasing BEST buses, which transport more people at a time. Due to the poor condition of the BEST buses, people choose to travel by autos and taxis, if not private cars,” Shah said.
Meanwhile, the residents staying along the Coastal Road in South Mumbai complained that the BMC does not pay heed to their complaints on rising dust pollution.
“For one month I have been calling the engineers of the Coastal Road to take measures to avoid dust particles entering our houses due to the pile of cement/sands stored for the construction. However, there is no action and residents are facing breathing issues,” Zia S, a resident of Mahalaxmi Bay said.
Areas with the poorest AQI on Thursday
Source Central Pollution Control Board
Borivali East- 275
Malad West – 260
Navy Nagar-Colaba – 239
Kandivali West- 219
Deonar- 214
Mazgaon- 214
