MAXIMUM TOXI-CITY

There was a time when Mumbai’s iconic seaside promenade, Marine Drive, would offer visitors such a crisp and exquisite view of the city’s skyline that on a clear day, one could almost count the skyscrapers lining the horizon.

- Dhaval Kulkarni

But drive down the seafront these days, and it’s not unusual to be greeted by a view that looks as if it’s struggling to peek through the thick brown haze and smog shrouding it. It’s almost gasping for air. Much like Mumbaikars today, who, thanks to the city’s ceaseless construction activity and rising levels of pollutants, coupled with a change in wind patterns, have been forced to choke on air that’s almost as toxic as smoking five to six cigarettes a day. In February this year in fact, according to the Swiss firm IQAir, Mumbai was ranked as the second most polluted city in the world.

Mumbai’s average air quality has declined in general over the past decade, but this year has been particularly harsh. The month of October saw the air quality index (AQI) cross 300 in parts of the city like Andheri and Mazgaon, while Sion and the Bandra-Kurla Complex registered an AQI of 200plus (a 0-50 AQI is considered good, 51-100 satisfactory, 101-200 moderate, 201-300 poor, 301-400 is very poor and beyond 400 is considered severe). According to data from the official System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the city registered poor and very poor AQI on as many as 66 of the 92 days between November 2022 and January 2023, as against just 28 in the same period over the past three years. The civic body had to deploy dust suppression vehicles at around eight locations in October, while visitors to Marine Drive were greeted by an anti-smog gun. On October 20, the worsening AQI led I.S. Chahal, Commissioner, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), to call a stock-taking meeting with all stakeholders.