On Wednesday the Air Quality Index (AQI) of Mazgaon deteriorated further and was recorded between 417 to 432- considerably higher than that of Tuesday and remained in ‘Severe’ category.
Ongoing construction work being carried out without following necessary norms to avoid dust pollution could probably be one of the causes for the sudden spike in air pollution at Mazgaon area in Mumbai, as per experts from System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), which monitors the AQI at 10 locations in the city.
On Wednesday the Air Quality Index (AQI) of Mazgaon deteriorated further and was recorded between 417 to 432- considerably higher than that of Tuesday and remained in ‘Severe’ category. As per SAFAR’s portal, people should avoid any outdoor physical activity and those with any respiratory or heart diseases should avoid going outdoors if the AQI is above 401. However, the overall AQI of Mumbai was 240 on Wednesday.
Project director of SAFAR, Dr Gufran Beig said that such high AQI was only reported from Mazgaon and it would be impacting an area of two to three kilometres. “Ideally construction work should be carried out by using green curtains to avoid dust from spreading all over as per norms,” he said adding that there could be other contributing factors too.
An ongoing study being conducted by National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and IIT-Mumbai for Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) states that construction of 571 new buildings and major alteration and repair works in 331 buildings of Mumbai contributes to 1,752 tonnes per year and 966 tonnes per year of particulate matter emissions.
GASPING MUMBAI
- On Wednesday the AQI of Andheri (371), Malad (339) was high putting it in ‘Very Poor’ category
- An official from MPCB said that SAFAR was not able to pinpoint the exact reason as one cannot just blame construction as it was going on all over Mumbai
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