Mumbai’s air quality deteriorates after brief improvement

Mumbai: So, it looks like Mumbai’s air quality is back to being a problem after a little break. For a few days, things seemed to improve, thanks to some nice weather and the BMC stepping in with their Graded Response Action Plan. But then, bam! The air quality started to drop again, especially over the weekend.

Monitoring stations in places like Borivli and Byculla, which had decent readings earlier, suddenly reported poor air quality. The BMC had to put a stop to construction work in areas where the air quality index (AQI) was over 200. They were trying to tackle the dust and pollution, but it seems like the efforts weren’t enough.

On December 30, the BMC’s commissioner, Bhushan Gagrani, ordered a halt to construction in Borivli East. He said work could only start again once the sites followed the Dust Mitigation Guidelines. And guess what? By the next day, the AQI levels did improve a bit, but it was a short-lived victory.

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board also got involved, sending notices to the BMC and others for not following the guidelines. It’s a bit of a mess, really. Just a few days later, the AQI readings shot back up again, with some areas hitting alarming levels. It’s a tough situation for everyone in the city, and folks are hoping for better air quality soon.