DNA Edit: Toxic times

After NCR, it is now Mumbai’s turn to breath toxic air. Last week, Mumbaikars woke up to dense smog enveloping the Maximum City, a development signalling that the problem of bad air is not singular to the national capital region alone. The air quality in Mumbai also crossed the “poor” level with the AQI index spiking above 237 — the second-worst quality of air recorded after Diwali in Mumbai when AQI levels crossed 310. Meteorologists have put the problem down to a combination of high pollution levels, abnormal moisture content and low wind speeds. The weather phenomenon of fog is rather unusual to Mumbai and the recent passage of Cyclone Ockhi can be attributed to the fog.

However, it is the unrestrained industrial and manufacturing might of the city that is to blame for the degeneration of the fog into vicious smog. Progressively, it is becoming clear that state governments discretely are falling woefully short in resolving the air pollution crisis. The need of the hour is for the Centre to take a leadership role and bring state governments along with the concerned state-level authorities on the same page in the war against the crisis. Barely a couple of weeks after the NCR region was breathing air that was deemed hazardous for children and elderly people, state governments have moved on without drafting a long-term battle plan to forestall the crisis from cropping up again.

It is quite possible that the problem will make a  dramatic comeback next year and the governments involved will once again make empty, soothing assurances without ever getting to the root of the matter. Even if a consensus is reached on a roadmap, allocating resources will be another obstacle that will not be easily overcome by states. That is why the Centre must step in and help calibrate a policy that will help Indian cities breath easy.