Air pollution in Mumbai worsens, BMC's precautionary measures unlikely to help

Measures adopted by the BMC to curb air pollution is proving  to be ineffective. According to a TOI report, civic body's much-touted anti-smog guns are merely for "fire-fighting" and do not solve the problem of gaseous emissions and fine particles in the air.Rakesh Kumar, former head of National Environment Engineering and Research Institute, said the guns which spray mist would not be effective as they are meant to dispel bigger particles. "The current problem is that of gaseous emissions, the haze that is created due to ozone levels and of fine particles," Kumar said.

The city has witnessed a rise in the heat with an average daily maximum temperature ranging from 32 to 34 degrees for a week resulting in air quality slipping to the moderate category. Construction is going on at a whopping 6,000 sites in the city currently, an official release quoted municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal as saying on Friday.Various measures like compulsory use of 35-feet high iron sheet enclosures around construction sites and covering under-construction buildings with green cloth or jute sheets on all sides are among the measures suggested by the civic body to fight air pollution.

Experts argue that the anti-smog guns deployed by the BMC are not effective in addressing gaseous emissions and fine particles. They recommend real-time monitoring of polluting sites and stricter enforcement of guidelines to combat air pollution. The National Clean Air Programme has set targets for reducing particulate matter, but Mumbai's air quality has worsened since the program began in 2017.