MPCB’s last month’s warning on pollution emergency unheeded

Mumbai: A thick blanket of haze covered the city for the third consecutive day, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) value rising to 309, categorised as ‘very poor’, on Tuesday.

According to the System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) network of monitoring stations, the AQI level between 200 and 300 is considered ‘poor’ and if it is in excess of 300 it is marked ‘very poor’.

On Monday, at 300, AQI levels touched the ‘poor’ levels. Out of the nine monitoring stations of SAFAR, six placed the quality of air in this category. The morning temperatures – at 23.4 degrees Celsius, four degrees above normal -- too added to the discomfort.

The wind speed, measured at 7 kms per hour, prompted former NEERI director Rakesh Kumar to remark that while the average wind speed is 5-10 kms per hour, cleaning the current haze would require wind speeds at 12 kms per hour.

While environmentalists continued to attribute the poor air quality levels to a combination of meteorological factors --lack of sea breeze over land and inability of low wind speed to disperse pollutants -- and anthropogenic activities such as ongoing construction of various infrastructure projects, vehicular emissions and road dust suspension, a section of experts have called for the need to implement the emergency response system, on the lines of Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), which is place in Delhi.

Last month, the Maharashtra pollution Control Board (MPCB) had communicated with municipal corporations to brace themselves for such an eventuality. “The Centre had approved the clean air programme for state. We sent a letter to all municipal corporations to take steps under GRAP if the AQI is bad and they have to take action,” said V M Motghare, joint director of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB).

Kumar said the haze is particulate matter – construction dust -- hanging as high as 15-18 floors. “What we are seeing is not from a dust storm, it’s local source. We don’t have data on the number of vehicles plying for construction, which is mostly overnight when the mixing height is low. We need air quality sensors at construction sights,” said Kumar.

He added, “Delhi has an action plan, but there has been no improvement because it’s applied after AQI levels get serious. GRAP cannot be AQI based; it has to be based on a combination of weather outlook of up to 15 days, local sources and air quality data dating back many years.”

According to Ronak Sutaria, founder of Respirer Life Science, many parts of central Mumbai were in the red compared to suburbs like Andheri. Deonar and Mazagaon rated in the worst category. The worst hours in most locations, he added, were between 10am and 12 noon, which seemed to indicate a regional dust blowing into the city at that time.

“A response action plan like stopping heavy diesel vehicles from plying and a halt on construction activities for a couple of days can have a significant impact in improving air quality. Forecasting systems can help in recommending health precautions to combat such severe episodic conditions,” said Sutaria.

HT on December 20, 2021, reported Maharashtra government’s plans to implement an emergency response system, along the lines of Delhi’s graded action plan to combat air pollution.

The GRAP is a set of measures triggered in phases as air quality deteriorates. For example, when the AQI in Delhi-NCR hits the ‘severe’ category, respective municipal corporations in Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh impose bans on polluting activities such as construction, operation of cement mix plants and running diesel generators, and step-up patrolling to curb open burning.

For the state, MPCB has categorised air quality in four stages (from ‘moderate’ to ‘emergency’) based on the daily concentration of particulate matter pollutants PM2.5 and PM10. Activities such as water sprinkling, dust sweeping and deployment of anti-smog guns will be put into action when air quality touches the ‘severe’ category for a period of 48 hours, i.e. when PM2.5 levels exceed 215ug/m3 and PM10 exceeds 431ug/m3.

Avick Sil, director, Enviro Policy Research Institute, called for an audit of the status of the GRAP that Maharashtra had drafted. “Otherwise it will end up like the Chitale committee report on Mithi River where nothing concrete has been undertaken and we still talk about the river every monsoon,” said Sil. “We can’t stop construction activities since people will lose their jobs overnight. Are smog towers in Delhi working today? We have to look at sustainable solutions.”

This clearly is a far cry from the reality -- Mumbai has been suffering with the air quality index going from ‘poor’ to ‘severe’ in various parts but the state government is yet to come up with effective measures to quell the problem. The state does not even have a full-time environment minister.

Principal secretary of the state environment department, Pravin Darade, however insisted that the authorities are constantly monitoring the air quality.

Meanwhile, acknowledging that vehicles add to the pollution, Motghare placed his bets on the government’s plans to rollout electric vehicles by 2025. He called for mechanical sweeping to reduce dust particles on the road. “The MPCB has also put restrictions on burning of bio mass. There is a lot of dust due to the big redevelopment activity in Mumbai. We have suggested plants for construction and demolition debris,” he added.

Despite many calls and messages, Municipal Commissioner I S Chahal, who is also the chief of disaster management authority, for Mumbai did not respond.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde holds the charge of environment and climate change department, but his office is yet to hold any meeting on the issue, even as Mumbai’s situation is becoming alarming.

Former state environment minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray said: “The issue of air pollution depends on technical grounds. We have to track what is causing it. The government has to decide this on an SOS basis. There is absolutely no official word from the government -- it does not even recognise this as an issue.”