Pollution has been a serious concern in India’s financial capital city Mumbai for almost four months now. Officials claim, for the first time, due to extensive development and construction work in the city, the quality of air has deteriorated.

City’s administration BMC says dust has become a major contributing factor to air pollution and to control this, it has decided to form ward-level task forces to implement standard operating procedures (SOPs).

To control the dust, three task forces are being appointed in each ward. There are 24 wards in the city.

“All the wards have already begun the procedure and started surprise visits too at the construction sites. They will be responsible for controlling the dust particles during the building constriction work. Through field visits, the project site will be regularly monitored for dust control. If they see a violation, then strict action will be taken including fines, warnings, and even stop work notices,” a senior official from the BMC said.

Secondly, to control pollution, road cleanliness will be monitored by the task force. The team will look after the roads which will be regularly cleaned, measures will be taken to control the dust on roads, water will be sprinkled, etc. It will also search for and locate places where garbage and other waste items are burnt, especially in open spaces.

Also Read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/mumbai-overtakes-delhi-to-become-most-polluted-indian-city-561748">Mumbai overtakes Delhi to become most-polluted Indian city</a>

Third, the task force will also monitor the usage of the type of fuel in hotels, restaurants, dhabas, bakeries, eateries, roadside stalls etc. It will cross-check the type of fuel being used at these places and will report the places where unclean fuel is being used.

BMC says the goal of the task force is to conduct inspections at the ward level and prepare reports based on their observations which can help to curb the pollution issue in Mumbai.

Mumbai has been more in news for air pollution compared to the national capital&nbsp;Delhi. A recent survey even ranked Mumbai as the second most polluted city globally for a week between January and 29-February 8, 2023.

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Pollution has been a serious concern in India’s financial capital city Mumbai for almost four months now. Officials claim, for the first time, due to extensive development and construction work in the city, the quality of air has deteriorated.

Pollution has been a serious concern in India’s financial capital city Mumbai for almost four months now. Officials claim, for the first time, due to extensive development and construction work in the city, the quality of air has deteriorated. City’s administration BMC says dust has become a major contributing factor to air pollution and to control this, it has decided to form ward-level task forces to implement standard operating procedures (SOPs). To control the dust, three task forces are being appointed in each ward. There are 24 wards in the city. “All the wards have already begun the procedure and started surprise visits too at the construction sites. They will be responsible for controlling the dust particles during the building constriction work. Through field visits, the project site will be regularly monitored for dust control. If they see a violation, then strict action will be taken including fines, warnings, and even stop work notices,” a senior official from the BMC said. Secondly, to control pollution, road cleanliness will be monitored by the task force. The team will look after the roads which will be regularly cleaned, measures will be taken to control the dust on roads, water will be sprinkled, etc. It will also search for and locate places where garbage and other waste items are burnt, especially in open spaces. Also Read | Mumbai overtakes Delhi to become most-polluted Indian city Third, the task force will also monitor the usage of the type of fuel in hotels, restaurants, dhabas, bakeries, eateries, roadside stalls etc. It will cross-check the type of fuel being used at these places and will report the places where unclean fuel is being used. BMC says the goal of the task force is to conduct inspections at the ward level and prepare reports based on their observations which can help to curb the pollution issue in Mumbai. Mumbai has been more in news for air pollution compared to the national capital Delhi. A recent survey even ranked Mumbai as the second most polluted city globally for a week between January and 29-February 8, 2023. WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

BMC takes steps to curb dust in Indian financial capital Mumbai

Mumbai has left behind the national capital Delhi as the most-polluted city in India and is now in the second position worldwide between January 29 and February 8, according to the Swiss air tracking index IQAir (a real-time worldwide air quality monitor). On January 29, Mumbai was 10th in IQAir rankings in terms of poorest positions. Surprisingly, Delhi did not feature in the top 10 most-polluted cities list.

Mumbai then climbed to the top of the stack on February 2 before falling in the following days. Mumbai once again rose to take the second place on February 8. On February 13, Mumbai took over Delhi as the most polluted city in India and was the third most unhealthy city worldwide with regards to air quality.

 
What is IQAir?&nbsp;

Swiss air tracking index IQAir in collaboration with UNEP and Greenpeace, measures air quality in India using data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). It categorises the air quality as "healthy", "unhealthy" and "hazardous" as per US air quality index (AQI) standards. Notably, the pollution standards used by America are more strict than India.

Air quality in Mumbai

The CPCB data suggests that Poor and Very Poor days in Mumbai in November-January during the current winter season were more than double over three previous winters.&nbsp;

Dust generated from construction work and vehicular emissions formed a major part of this pollution in the city.&nbsp;

According to a 2020 research by National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and IIT-B, road or construction dust contributed to more than 71 per cent of the particulate matter load in Mumbai’s air. Factories, power plants, airports, and waste dumps generated the rest.

Top 10 most-polluted cities in the world

1. Lahore (Pakistan) 
2. Mumbai (India) 
3. Kabul (Afghanistan) 
4. Kaohsiung (Taiwan) 
5. Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) 
6. Accra (Ghana) 
7. Krakow (Poland) 
8. Doha (Qatar) 
9. Astana (Kazakhstan) 
10. Santiago (Chile)

(With inputs from agencies)

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Mumbai has left behind the national capital Delhi as the most-polluted city in India and is now in the second position worldwide between January 29 and February 8, according to the Swiss air tracking index IQAir (a real-time worldwide air quality monitor).

Mumbai has left behind the national capital Delhi as the most-polluted city in India and is now in the second position worldwide between January 29 and February 8, according to the Swiss air tracking index IQAir (a real-time worldwide air quality monitor). On January 29, Mumbai was 10th in IQAir rankings in terms of poorest positions. Surprisingly, Delhi did not feature in the top 10 most-polluted cities list. Mumbai then climbed to the top of the stack on February 2 before falling in the following days. Mumbai once again rose to take the second place on February 8. On February 13, Mumbai took over Delhi as the most polluted city in India and was the third most unhealthy city worldwide with regards to air quality. What is IQAir? Swiss air tracking index IQAir in collaboration with UNEP and Greenpeace, measures air quality in India using data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). It categorises the air quality as "healthy", "unhealthy" and "hazardous" as per US air quality index (AQI) standards. Notably, the pollution standards used by America are more strict than India. Air quality in Mumbai The CPCB data suggests that Poor and Very Poor days in Mumbai in November-January during the current winter season were more than double over three previous winters. Dust generated from construction work and vehicular emissions formed a major part of this pollution in the city. According to a 2020 research by National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and IIT-B, road or construction dust contributed to more than 71 per cent of the particulate matter load in Mumbai’s air. Factories, power plants, airports, and waste dumps generated the rest. Top 10 most-polluted cities in the world 1. Lahore (Pakistan) 2. Mumbai (India) 3. Kabul (Afghanistan) 4. Kaohsiung (Taiwan) 5. Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) 6. Accra (Ghana) 7. Krakow (Poland) 8. Doha (Qatar) 9. Astana (Kazakhstan) 10. Santiago (Chile) (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Mumbai overtakes Delhi to become most-polluted Indian city

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) recently submitted the Mumbai Clean Air Plan to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). However, the city-based environmental groups believe that it lacks coherent solutions that could alleviate environmental woes.

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) recently submitted the Mumbai Clean Air Plan to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). However, the city-based environmental groups believe that it lacks coherent solutions that could alleviate environmental woes. While Delhi had been struggling last month to get air quality markers under control, the entire conundrum around the need for clean air grew louder. Mumbai which often breathes a sigh of relief in this regard considering proximity to the sea and adequate rainfall has not fared too well on the pollution measuring indicators recently. The air quality index in the island city has been hovering at 'poor' and 'very poor.' In January this year, the Ministry of Earth sciences launched the National Clean Air Programme, a strategy to tackle increasing air pollution in a time-bound manner. Under the same plan, Mumbai is among one of 122 cities identified by the CPCB to scale down air pollution by 20% to 30%. Maharashtra Pollution Control Board's (MPCB) plan for the city was submitted last month, with a slew of measures it believes will help Mumbai breathe clean air. Some of them are the introduction of a congestion tax on private vehicles, the introduction of a 'clean air fund,' converting city's BEST buses into AC buses, two and four wheelers to be charged more for fuel and parking to encourage public transport. Lowering of fuel charges for public transport to slash bus fares and subsequently recovering losses from car-users. Increasing road tax from existing 10% to 25%. In a day-long consultation seminar organised this week by Mumbai based environment protection organisations, in the presence of members of the civil society, activists and several like-minded individuals a detailed discussion on various aspects of pollution missing in MPCB's plan took place. A detailed copy of recommendations will soon be presented to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and pollution control body in the state. Conversation Action Trust and Waatavaran, two of the organising members gave an array of suggestions ranging from transport emissions, industrial emissions, emphasis on the protection of existing green zones, airshed based approach to manage air pollution. The recommendations of the public consultation were broadly divided into Transport, Data, Industry and Construction/demolition waste and biomass burning. Debi Goenka, founder and executive trustee- Conservation Action Trust said, "the plan that has been presented is not authentic in nature, there are quotations from unknown people. The plan of action is completely vague, no individual on whom responsibility can be fixed the entire document is not implementable. For example, a section in the plan talks about consequences of industrial pollution in case of a violation, the comment section says 'MPCB issues show-cause notices,' there is no strict action that follows up." Members at the congregation expressed displeasure that non of them had been asked for suggestions while the plan was being drafted, in fact their inputs on the same have not been included in the document. Further, a detailed suggestion on improvising existing public transport by opting for an integrated approach to address mobility by building walking and cycling infrastructure to restrain private transport growth. We live in the times of data analytics, however, the plan doesn't give clarity on the total number of monitoring stations and where they will be made. Need for data from the Continuous Emission Monitoring System to be made public for accountability of industry was also raised. Industry centric solutions upheld the need to make industries accountable for their carbon footprint, necessitating the state pollution control board to deal with violations with an iron hand. Over the years Mumbai city has seen large scale infrastructure projects cropping up in every corner, the state pollution control board needs to regulate the process of construction and demolition with builders and infra companies. Bulk emissions cause unprecedented toxic pollution which needs to be addressed. While the situation in Mumbai may not seem alarming at the moment, the clock is already ticking with regards to climate change and pollutions levels in the city. National Institute of Oceanography data reveals that the average rate at which sea level is rising has more than doubled in India from 1.27 mm/year to 3.22 mm/year in just over a decade. A worrying data because much of the infrastructure here is built on reclaimed land. In October this year, a British journal in its research report published potential dangers of climate change Mumbai is staring at, indicating that anthropogenic climatic alterations will deluge sizeable parts of the city by 2050. As per global environmental reports, Mumbai along with Guangzhou, Jakarta, Manila and Miami appears frequently on a list of cities endangered by climate change. A serious effort from the governing body is the most immediate need of the hour.

Maharashtra Pollution Control body's report lacks coherent solutions: Experts

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BMC takes steps to curb dust in Indian financial capital Mumbai

Mumbai overtakes Delhi to become most-polluted Indian city

Maharashtra Pollution Control body's report lacks coherent solutions: Experts