There’s something in the Mumbai air

Shabnam Abdul Gaffar Shah, 35, is wheezing. The aerial astir her successful the slums of Mumbai’s Mankhurd, a fewer 100 metres from an under-construction metro project, smells of soot and dust. “Everyone successful the location – my 3 children, husband, and I – has been sick for the past month. We went to the doctor. He said, ‘Hawa kharab hai(The aerial is bad).’ The cough and acold wouldn’t go,” she says, sitting conscionable extracurricular her single-room location connected a roadworthy down which unreserved schoolchildren, honking two-wheelers, BEST buses trying to navigate dug-up peripheries, and streetside vendors jostling for abstraction successful the aforesaid chaos. Medical expenses person go a challenge, she says. “Kitni dawa-daru karenge? (How overmuch volition we walk connected medicines?)”

Around 15 km away, successful Matunga, an country dotted with respective apical ranking colleges, including Podar and Ruia, professors of Khalsa College are disquieted astir their students who commute by nationalist transport and locomotion down dusty roads to scope the campus. The operation of high-rise structures to regenerate aged four-storeyed ones is successful afloat plaything successful the area.

A survey by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) successful 2023 to find retired the sources of aerial contamination successful 10 cities successful the State showed that particulate contributed to 30% of PM10 contamination successful Mumbai. PM is simply a notation to particulate matter, which tin beryllium inhaled, defined by its diameter: 10 micrometres and 2.5 micrometres, for instance. These tin participate the lungs and person an adverse effect connected health, some contiguous and successful the long-term, if vulnerability is constant.

Mumbai’s aerial prime implicit the past 3 years has often ranged from ‘moderate’ to ‘severe’, with PM2.5 and PM10 levels often exceeding harmless limits, driven up by vehicular emissions, dust, and wintertime conditions that pb to stagnation of air.

Respirer Living Sciences, a clime tech start-up, released a study this twelvemonth that stated that Mumbai saw a 2.6% summation successful PM2.5 levels from 35.2 g/m³ successful 2019 to 36.1 g/m³ successful 2024, reflecting a persisting aerial prime contented for India’s fiscal capital. It added that Mumbai witnessed singular betterment successful the fig of ‘good’ days, expanding from 164 successful 2021 to 184 successful 2024. However, the persistence of ‘moderate’ and ‘poor’ days successful 2022 and 2023 highlighted the beingness of localised contamination sources, peculiarly during construction-heavy periods, it stated.

Barely 3 km away, advocator Shweta Mehta stays successful a neighbourhood touted to beryllium the adjacent large connectivity hub of coastal Mumbai: Wadala. Located little than 2 km from the upcoming New Cuffe Parade area, wherever metro, monorail, and cardinal infrastructure projects are coming up, the particulate successful the country is thick.

Mehta, who lives successful an flat block, says, “Due to mediocre aerial prime implicit the past fewer months, I person been restricting my parents from stepping out. They person lung-related ailments and I person asked them to enactment indoors.” She is alert that her ageing parents are opening to consciousness frustrated and lonely, with their societal beingness disrupted, but for Mehta, it’s a hard choice.

Doctors and lawyers talk out

Dr. Asmita Mahajan, advisor and caput of the Department of Paediatrics and Neonatology astatine Mahim’s Fortis Raheja Hospital, feels determination should beryllium a contamination lockdown successful the city. “When did you past spot wide skies?” she says.

Until a fewer years ago, she would spot a seasonal spike successful the fig of children coming to the infirmary with allergic respiratory conditions. “Allergic coughs instrumentality months to spell away. Children with asthma spot an exacerbation of symptoms.”

Until past year, Mahajan says, she utilized to spot 2 children per week with respiratory problems. It has present gone up to six per week. “There are repetition infirmary admissions, particularly of children with asthma. Some request hospitalisation and ICU admittance too,” she says.

Dr. Samir Garde, a pulmonologist successful Mumbai, says 25 years ago, the starring origin of lung crab was smoking. Now, galore non-smokers declaration superior lung diseases, including cancer. He attributes 1 of the reasons to aerial pollution. He hopes the authorities volition prioritise nationalist health. Looking astatine the persistent aerial prime problem, the Bombay High Court tooksuo motucognisance of the substance successful 2023. It initiated a nationalist involvement litigation plea to code deteriorating aerial prime levels and rising contamination from operation dust. In October 2023, the tribunal issued elaborate orders, including 28 guidelines to beryllium implemented by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) astatine operation sites. These included mandatory installation of aerial prime sensors and h2o sprinklers, and placing covers connected vehicles transporting operation material. On November 27 this year, the tribunal flagged the crisp diminution successful the aerial prime scale (AQI) (up to 270, classified arsenic ‘poor’) and rejected the ‘volcanic ash from Ethiopia’ theory. Amicus curiaeand elder advocator Darius Khambata highlighted the worsening of aerial prime since 2023 and non-compliance astatine operation sites. Of astir 1,000 operation sites successful the city, lone 400 person installed sensors mandated by the court’s earlier order, and 117 of those are non-functional. Moreover, these sensors are yet to beryllium linked to a cardinal monitoring system, helium pointed out. The tribunal stressed that Mumbai needed a sustained program to combat rising contamination and ordered the enactment of a committee to guarantee strict compliance with existing guidelines for operation sites. It besides noted that earlier committees had failed to taxable play compliance reports since March 2025. The caller committee is expected to taxable its findings wrong a week, aft which the substance volition beryllium heard again connected December 15.

Data points

This month, BMC Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani announced Project MANAS, successful collaboration with IIT Kanpur, to instal a hyperlocal sensor-based ambient aerial prime monitoring system.

“What volition you bash adjacent erstwhile monitors are installed? Do we not person capable aerial prime information already?” says Rakesh Kumar, president of the non-profit Society for Indoor Environment, and erstwhile manager of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research’s National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI). He says the existent occupation is not the unavailability of information for measuring ambient aerial quality, but translating that information into action.

He besides points retired that the information is generic. “Let’s speech astir the proscription sector. You person a premix of vehicles of antithetic vintages. Of the 100 vehicles that are connected the road, 50-60 are regularly connected the road. Some are determination for operation activities: vehicles carrying worldly and debris. They spell to antithetic operation sites. That is the information we need,” helium says.

He adds that it is indispensable to spell into granular information connected roadworthy movement. Banning each operation activities abruptly and implementing curbs nether Stages III and IV of the Graded Response Action Plan overnight are knee-jerk reactions, helium feels. “We are missing immoderate portion of information. That volition not travel from ambient aerial prime measurement,” helium says. Tuhin Banerji, erstwhile idiosyncratic astatine CSIR-NEERI and existent coordinator of the non-profit International Center for Climate and Sustainability Action, feels the authorities knows the solutions but isn’t consenting to put successful them. “Everyone is lone talking astir monitoring. Nobody is doing thing astir removing these pollutants. There are molecular filters that tin selectively region pollutants from the atmosphere,” helium says.

He gives a database of interventions similar electrostatic precipitators to region particulate matter; WAYU (wind augmentation purifying unit), an outdoor aerial purifying instrumentality developed by the CSIR-NEERI to combat aerial contamination successful high-traffic zones; and Techno Green Yuka Yantra, a patented solution for aerial quality. He, too, laments “the deficiency of bureaucratic will” to instrumentality them.

Environmentalists person accused authorities of obfuscating important information connected aerial quality. Sumaira Abdulali has been tracking aerial prime for years. As portion of her consciousness campaign, she utilized to enactment retired PM2.5 level information each time for implicit a year. Then, suddenly, successful May this year, PM2.5 information was not disposable connected the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) Sameer app, which gives real-time updates connected AQI and different parameters.

“Till May 2025, each the readings were successful red. In fact, successful April this year, the PM2.5 level successful Kandivali [a Mumbai suburb] was 434, mode supra the reddish zone,” she says. Abdulali raised the contented of information unavailability with authorities, asked questions for a while, but says she got nary answers.

“We cognize that PM2.5 is much dangerous. The operation of your chemoreceptor tin halt PM10. But PM2.5 particles spell into your lungs. They tin origin each sorts of problems: coughing, wheezing. Long-term vulnerability tin origin cancer,” Banerji says.

Asked wherefore PM2.5 information was nary longer disposable connected the Sameer app, MPCB officials accidental the information was controlled by the CPCB. “You volition person to inquire them,” says MPCB Joint Director (Air) Satish Padwal. “There has to beryllium 1 monitoring centre per 10 lakh population. There are excess stations successful Mumbai astatine present,” helium adds. The Sameer app shows that 23 of the 30 stations were active.

Gagrani admits that aerial prime is simply a captious nationalist wellness and governance priority.

“Stop-work notices person been issued to 321 sites. We are carrying retired roadworthy watering, mist spraying, site-wise visits, and urging bakeries to power to cleanable fuel,” helium says.

However, experts accidental mist spraying does not enactment to curb aerial pollution. The BMC has deployed 94 flying squads to guarantee strict adherence to the 28 guidelines formulated for operation sites. Show-cause notices were issued to the slug bid task and Dharavi redevelopment project, says Ashwini Joshi, Additional Municipal Commissioner of BMC.

vinaya.deshpande@thehindu.co.in