MUMBAI: As winter approaches, Mumbai’s air quality starts dipping, but the city’s pollution troubles extend well beyond the winter months. Yet, despite repeated court directions over the years to rein in pollution of various kinds, there is little change on ground.
Only last week, the Bombay High Court referred to the pall of haze over the city as an “emergency situation”, asking state authorities what they were doing to tackle it.
A quarter century later, the challenge has only increased, with traffic emissions to construction dust, industrial pollution, and burning of firecrackers. The court has issued several directions to curb the odour, which are yet to be complied with. “The authorities deploy machinery to carry out precautionary measures only when the court passes orders against them, but that is not enough. It specifically mentioned the police’s failure to enforce restrictions on noise pollution, particularly during religious processions. “Many officers are aware of the ill effects of pollution and environmental destruction, but enforcement is sporadic and depends on several factors, including the political and commercial interests of those violating court orders.
In 2023, the high court acted on its own to address the concerns over the city’s poor air quality index (AQI) following media reports about Mumbai’s ranking as the seventh most polluted city in the world by Swiss air monitor IQAir. In December 1999, while hearing a petition by the Smoke Affected Residents’ Forum, the court issued instructions on remedial measures to reduce vehicular emissions, including examining cleaner fuels. The BMC had told the court that construction sites contributed 9% to the city’s pollution. The air pollution monitors we see at construction sites today were installed on the court’s directions in January 2025. Air pollution took another form before the high court in a PIL filed by NGO Vanashakti in 2013, where residents of Kannamwar Nagar in Vikhroli highlighted a rank odour emanating from the Kanjurmarg garbage dumping ground.
About 30% is contributed by resuspension of road dust due to vehicular movement, 20% due to industrial emissions or fossil-fuel combustion, and 14% due to vehicles. Construction sites have been a matter of concern due to the copious amount of dust they produce.
Advocate Abhijeet P Rane, representing the residents, said the authorities act only after judicial intervention. The CPCB also issues vague notifications that do not clearly specify which pollutants need to be detected or monitored,” he said. “The wheels of the official machinery appear to be turning too slowly to comply even with the basic preliminary compliances as ordered,” the court observed recently. More people need to learn how to complain effectively and to have their voices heard,” said. Abdulali told HT
Last year, the court directed the BMC to implement the Mumbai Air Pollution Mitigation Plan, which included enclosing construction sites with high metal sheets, regular water sprinkling, and covering construction material.
