As air quality deteriorates in Mumbai, civic body springs into action

PIC/SHADAB KHAN

As the city reeled under air pollution on Thursday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), through the Solid Waste Management (SWM) Department, has undertaken certain steps efforts to mitigate the issue and suppress dust as part of an ongoing initiative to improve air quality. As part of this drive, BMC has developed a special Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to tackle Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste, control dust levels, and enhance the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Mumbai.

The Mumbai civic body has taken the following steps till 6 pm on Thursday to mitigate the problem of air pollution:

- It has cleaned and washed 128 roads, covering 263 kilometres.
- A total of 92 machines, including water tankers, firex units, and misting machines, have been deployed
- According to BMC, 96 vehicles have been deployed to collect dust and transport C&D waste. These include 46 JCBs and dumpers, 16 mechanical sweepers, 13 e-sweepers, and 21 litter picker machines.
- A total of 197 tonnes of C&D waste and debris were collected and transported to processing facilities.
- The Mumbai civic body has also deployed 365 cleanup marshals for the entire day across the city.
- They have collected Rs 97,100 as fines from those violating the rules.

"These efforts reflect BMC's commitment to improving air quality, reducing pollution, and maintaining cleaner, healthier urban spaces for Mumbai's residents," the civic body said in a press release.

A thick layer of smog and haze covered Mumbai's skyline throughout Thursday.

In its latest updates, the Central Pollution Control Board's SAMEER app reported that the city's air quality remained in the 'moderate' category, with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 166 at 7 pm.

As per the SAMEER app dashboard, many areas across Mumbai showed 'moderate' AQI. Bandra Kurla Complex recorded 'moderate' air quality with an AQI of 155.

Colaba, Chembur and Ghatkopar recorded 'moderate' air quality with an AQI of 107, 124 and 136, respectively.

Borivali, Kandivali and Malad recorded 'poor' air quality, with an AQI of 275, 219 and 260, respectively.

According to data from the SAMEER app, Navi Mumbai recorded air quality in the 'moderate' category with an AQI of 128, while Thane registered a 'moderate' AQI of 140.