Thirty-two-year-old Leeka Ram has been suffering from tuberculosis for the past two years. A resident of the Kanamwar Nagar slums in Vikhroli, Leeka was diagnosed with TB after a chronic cough persisted. Though she has been visiting the nearby civic-run health clinic and taking medication for the disease, the doctor has asked Leeka to wear a mask as a precaution to combat the air pollution in the area where she lives. Rampant construction activities in the area have been sending more people to hospitals than before, say doctors with clinics in this area and beyond.

Like the previous year and the one before that, this year too, the air quality in Mumbai is being counted as one of the worst in cities across the country. So critical is the issue that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal – who is the administrator pending elections to the civic body – has warned that construction activities will be stopped across the city if proper and dust control measures are not implemented. There are presently 6,000 construction sites, including government and private, across Mumbai and its suburbs, reveals a statement by the civic body.

In the week gone by, the air quality index - according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board - in various parts of Mumbai exceeded 200 during the day, which is considered ‘poor’. Chahal has been holding a series of interactions with all the stakeholders involved. Last year, when the city's air quality showed a similar decline, the BMC announced the Mumbai Air Pollution Mitigation Plan 2023. However, Ravi Raja, Congress leader and the former leader of the Opposition in the BMC, in a statement, charged the BMC of not implementing a single guideline of the Plan. His statement further says that thousands of people in the city, including children, are suffering from chronic pulmonary diseases due to this declining air quality.

The measures suggested by the BMC include the compulsory use of iron enclosures that are 35 feet high around construction sites and the use of either green cloth or jute sheets on all sides of the under-construction buildings. Sprinkler systems should be put in place at the construction sites within 15 days of the start of construction activities at the site. Similarly, anti-smog guns must be provided within 30 days, says the BMC statement reiterating the guidelines of the Mumbai Air Quality Mitigation Plan 2023. The BMC will operate anti-smog guns on 50-60 major roads across Mumbai, mentions the statement.

To control dust, the civic body has put mist machines on the roads in numerous areas, including Worli Sea Face, Haji Ali, Peddar Road, Girgaon Chowpatty, Nariman Point, Fashion Street, Badhwar Park and the Work Trade Centre. Chahal has issued strict instructions to transporters carrying debris in trucks on the roads to ensure that it is properly covered with tarpaulin sheets and that the load should not exceed the prescribed weight. He has also requested the office of the transport commissioner to take strict action against vehicles that are either past their service life, do not have a Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate or are overloading the trucks during transportation.

Presently, two refineries – Tata Power and the Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizer (RCF) plants, located within the city – are being inspected to check if pollution control measures have been implemented.

Mumbai, a city with a long coastline, has in the past benefitted from the sea breeze to keep the pollution levels in check. However, environmental experts believe that climate change and global warming have changed the wind pattern, which has severely impacted the weather. The increasing vehicle population and heightened construction activities have adversely impacted the air quality in Mumbai and its suburban areas.

The Out Patients Departments of hospitals and private clinics are seeing a heavy patient load with complaints of pulmonary ailments, say doctors. Findings from a 2019 study conducted by Lancet Planetary Health Journal revealed that pollution led to over 23.5 million deaths in India in that year. These premature deaths due to all kinds of pollution, including 16.7 lakh deaths due to air pollution, in 2019 is considered the highest among countries worldwide.