Mumbai: After approximately more than a month, the average air quality index (AQI) of Mumbai deteriorated to approximately 165 on Saturday as four major suburbs experienced poor air quality.
Mumbai had commenced the new year with dense fog resulting in prolonged smog and poor air quality. Barring a slight improvement during the Mumbai Marathon, the climate remained in the satisfactory to lower non-satisfactory range.
According to experts, the abrupt increase in atmospheric moisture and reduction in wind velocity has resulted in dust and smoke from the city remaining suspended in the atmosphere for an extended duration, particularly since Friday evening.
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The suburbs of Byculla (203), Deonar (284), Malad W (295), and Shivajinagar Mankhurd (201) exhibited a poor AQI range with Deonar and Malad West nearly approaching the very poor category.
The other suburbs which registered in the higher range of non-satisfactory AQI category proximate to poor range included BKC (180), Borivli East (182), T2 (170), Mazgaon (165), Navy Nagar Colaba (166), Sewri (195), Siddharth Nagar Worli (166), Sion (166), Vile Parle (172), and Worli (159).
AQI represents the concentration of toxic PM2.5 or PM 10 in air, whichever is higher. According to experts, whilst six to eight hours of exposure to poor AQI suffices to affect human health, particularly the respiratory tract, pollution control board officials indicate that such exposure must persist for minimally 16 hours to adversely affect the human body.
Meanwhile, the MPCB officials are implementing rigorous measures including closure against polluting installations with smoke chimneys and those generating dust such as construction related activities across suburbs displaying AQI in poor zone (200 and above).
