Shivaji Nagar, Govandi records ‘poor’ AQI for the 6th day

MUMBAI:

On Friday, the Continuous Air Quality Monitoring Station (CAQMS) placed in Shivaji Nagar in Govandi recorded ‘poor’ air quality above 200 for the sixth consecutive day.

The city recorded an overall air quality index (AQI) of 141 as per the 4pm bulletin of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Out of the 24 stations that contributed to the 24-hour average of overall AQI, only one station remained in the satisfactory category, Shivaji Nagar was in poor (232), and the remaining stations in the moderate category.

According to CPCB, AQI readings between 0-50 are classified good, 51-100 satisfactory, 101-200 moderate, 201-300 poor, 301-400 very poor, and above 400 severe.

The CAQMS in Shivaji Nagar, Govandi is installed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

A senior official from BMC said that three days ago, the civic body deployed a mobile air quality monitoring van to assess the situation.

“To check if calibration of CAQMS is accurate, we are tallying its AQI readings with that from the van. If discrepancy is ruled out, we find the local sources of emissions. The monitoring will continue for the next 48 hours before we decide on the next plan of action,” said the official.

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and the BMC are jointly monitoring the situation. MPCB officials were not available for comment.

Predominantly housing the lower socio-economic class, AQI in Shivaji Nagar, which has several dump yards, small industries and the Deonar landfill in close proximity, has fluctuated between moderate and poor category through the year.

“Small activities such as garbage burning, e-waste retrieval and transportation of dump, and local activities could be the factors contributing to the consistently poor AQI,” said Rakesh Kumar, president of the Society for Indoor Environment, who is also on the Bombay high court monitoring panel of Deonar. “There are also several small bakeries that burn dry waste like plywood to operate, which could have had an impact”.

On December 31, when BMC municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani announced stop-work in Borivali East and Byculla, he announced, “In areas where the AQI index surpasses the 200 mark, we will stop work at all construction sites under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP 4) norms. Once the AQI breaches 200, the rule will be implemented immediately without issuing any stop-work notices to the developers”.

Kumar responded, “GRAP should be implemented but only on the local sources of emissions. If we get a source of emission within 5-km radius, then the AQI will progress, but an emergency response will help.”