Mumbai:
Mayanagari Mumbai is called the city of dreams, but now this city has become polluted. Life here never stops, now people’s breathing has stopped. People are now facing serious problems due to pollution. The increasing pollution in the city has increased the problems of the people. Visibility reduces due to fog in the morning and the air quality is deteriorating day by day. This time pollution has broken the record of the last three years. The air of Mayanagari, surrounded by continuous smog, has now become a threat to people’s health and it is affecting children the most. This pollution is badly affecting their health. Although many measures are being taken to stop pollution, despite all this the problem still remains.
What problems are happening?
- Increasing number of patients suffering from respiratory diseases
- Children suffer the most
- Every third patient has respiratory problems
- Mumbai surrounded by smog 24 hours
- Dry chronic cough lasts for about 1 month
What is the whole story?
For your information, let us tell you that how the increasing pollution of Mumbai is affecting people’s health, Dr. Irfan Ali (Intensivist, Pediatrics, KJ Somaiya Hospital) told that, every day we see 20-30 patients. Yes, all the problems are breathing related. There are 9 patients with respiratory problems in our 14-bed ICU. Describing the X-ray of a patient, he said that his lungs are looking white and not just the lungs, when this effect occurs, it also puts stress on the heart, heart problems and neuro problems also start arising in the long term. Is.
increasing problem due to pollution
Even those people who consider themselves healthy are now expressing many problems like burning sensation in the eyes, one month long dry cough, skin problems etc. When this was discussed with people who use public transport to commute. He told that it becomes difficult to sit in the bus, the eyes burn. There is dry cough for a month, difficulty in breathing, everywhere there is mud and dust, carved roads everywhere. Let us tell you that no one is safe from this smog, not even the rich people living in the skyscrapers of Mumbai who spend crores for clean air and good view.
due to pollution
- AQI has deteriorated in the last few weeks
- crossed 200 several times
- above 300 in some parts
- Construction everywhere in Mumbai
- Roads in almost every ward dug
- Dust and soil are the biggest contributors to pollution
- Mumbai has never seen so much construction work simultaneously in history.
- More than 10,000 big construction sites including government and private
What is the public saying?
A person who was on the 72nd floor of Nathani Heights, the tallest building in an area of ​​Mumbai, said that there was a time that from this height, the entire South Mumbai was clearly visible to us from here but now nothing is visible, Queen’s Necklace, Gate Way, Coastal Road, Sea Link, nothing is visible. Other people living in Nathani Heights also shared their problems. Urvisha Jagasheth, who lives in this building, said that we are drinking poison, our cough is not going away, we have stopped walking. Hasit Jagasheth, who lives there, said that I have never seen anything like this before, Mumbai looks like a gas chamber, if I walk outside I will fall ill.
What does the doctor say?
Dr. Honey Savla (Internal Medicine Consultant, Wockhardt Hospital) said that the hospital is full of patients with respiratory problems, PM2.5 being the most dangerous pollutant. It is so fine that it reaches deep inside the respiratory tract, and initially you see minor discomfort but its long term effect is very dangerous. Causes lung cancer.
What is the real cause of pollution?
Like Delhi, Mumbai is also covered with the blanket of pollution. Many times the air quality remained above 200 i.e. in poor category, AQI of some areas was above 300 and this situation is not new today but is from 2022. Many times Mumbai even got ahead of Delhi in the race. The state government and all the agencies have also admitted that the main reason for the worsening of Mumbai’s air is the construction work started simultaneously! It is said that Mumbai has never seen so many construction works simultaneously in history. More than ten thousand major construction works are going on, including private and government!
- Metro, coastal road, sea link extension, bullet train, flyovers, bridges, all the mega projects are progressing together rapidly.
- All the big government agencies like MMRDA, CIDCO, MIDC, MSRDC, MHADA, BMC are rapidly changing the face of the city.
Live data feet of the entire state is recorded in the Mumbai office of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board. When a member there, Dr. Avinash Dhakane (IAS, Member Secretary, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board) was asked about how Mumbai came out of the control board of the Control Board, he replied, the situation is getting better now, but the matter is It is true that before so many construction works, a plan should have been prepared as to how to tackle the pollution emanating from it, our 13 employees are going to every site and giving notice to the government sites also. First we give them notice and give them some time and then give them stop work notice.
how to stop pollution
Let us tell you that there are some machines which are installed in construction works and prevent the air from getting polluted, regarding this Mr. Kumar Kumaraswamy (Program Director, Clean Air Action, WRI India) said that 50% contributor is air pollution. There is dust in it. If you go to a construction site in a foreign country, the dust pollution emitted from there is collected by the machines installed there and does not come on the road. Here we do not have the technology, now it is written in the guidelines to put green cloth at the construction site, it is a safety net, it will prevent big stones from falling, the dust will definitely come out.
Secretary of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, Dr. Avinash Dhakane (IAS, Member Secretary, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board) said that we are bringing many new technologies, there is a project of Rs 100 crore through which machines will extract dust from roads, it takes some time to procure. . There is no shortage of funds, technology is also being adopted but time is running out. Question – Shouldn’t there be an umbrella agency that keeps an eye on the work of all the private government institutions? Why are you (MPCB) not given so much power? – We don’t have that many employees, this work is for BMC. Even if we take them out, what will they do for the rest of the day? That is also not cost effective, when there is already an institution, strict policing is necessary.
Responsibility on BMC
The responsibility of maintaining the city lies with BMC, the country’s richest municipal corporation. So for the control of air pollution, like in 2023, a long guideline with about 28 points was issued at the end of 2024 also. It was announced that all private and public construction activities will be stopped immediately in areas where AQI is above 200. Construction activities were stopped in Borivali and Byculla with the implementation of Grape 4. But what happened with this? Violations of BMC guidelines are also being found at many government construction sites.
Roads are carved everywhere from Andheri East to Coastal Road in Mumbai and work is going on. There is no water sprinkler anywhere that can stop the wind. Zoru Bhathena (Environmental Activist, City Activist) told that the money is worth crores of rupees for the project? But not to buy 1-2 crore such machines which will keep the air clean? Look at the Breach Candy area, it looks like a desert, whereas there was supposed to be greenery here as per the plan, but not a single tree is visible here.
Nigam Lakhani, a resident of Breach Candy, said that we are tired of requesting but no one listens. Machines run here day and night, dust flies, everyone is falling ill, our garden has been ruined, there are no trees or plants. We are just digging the land, launched a campaign, but no matter how much we do, we don’t even have time or energy left.
There are some other reasons for pollution also
Dust and traffic are not the only reasons for this pollution. There are many other players behind this pollution! The people of Mumbai are so dependent on this pav, which is sold for around Rs 5, that around 5 crore pavs are consumed here every day. Now, do you think the furnaces making it use green gas like PNG? No? Most of the bakeries are burning whatever they get, which is making the polluted air even more deadly.
Dr. Avinash Dhakane (IAS, Member Secretary, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board) said that there are more than 800 such unemployed people who are burning not only coal but also all the plastic waste that comes to hand. Only around 80 follow the rules.
How was rescue done earlier?
Being a coastal city, the prevailing winds keep the air quality in Mumbai at a safe level for most of the year. Till 3-4 years ago, air pollution never became such a big issue in Mumbai. Pollution emanating from construction works may be a big nuisance, but the recent dust storms have made the situation worse. The Department of Climate Studies of IIT Bombay, which conducts studies and research for the government, says that the dust storm coming from West Asia including the countries of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan also worsened the air of Mumbai. Dr. Raghu Murtugudde (Climate Studies, IIT Bombay) said that, see, a master plan should have been prepared, confidence is also important to deal with it, but keep in mind other factors also, Western Asia wind storm is also a big factor that AQI is so low. Went.
When we talk about health deterioration due to air pollution, it is very important to understand PM 2.5. Which is a major contributor to air pollution. It comes from many sources, vehicle smoke, dust, industrial emissions. This particle is about fifty times smaller than our hair, which easily reaches our respiratory tract and is making us sick. There is a fixed limit of 60 micrograms per cubic metre, but it has been seen to be exceeded many times.
