Black rain in Navi Mumbai and Uran startle local residents

Residents of Navi Mumbai and Uran have been seeing black rain for the past two days. While, this may be a shocking sight, as per the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board this may have some connection with the recent fire at Butcher Island.

Cooling operations underway at Butcher Island

As per a report by The Times of India, an official of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) who is based in Navi Mumbai, said, "Noting when the fire at Butcher Island began, and when Uran started getting black rain, it is safe to say that smoke coming out of the (burning diesel) may have caused coloured rain in Uran. There are no major industrial units in Uran taluka. So, industrial emissions can't be held responsible. Of course, there is an ONGC power plant, but it is not coal-based and is eco-friendly."

Also read: Mumbai: After 3 days of firefighting, Butcher Island flames put off

On asking the IMD Colaba about clack rain seen by citizens, the director of the IMD's Colaba weather observatory, Ajay Kumar, said, "The phenomenon of getting coloured rain occurs sometimes due to various factors. Coloured rainwater has been seen in Kerala. Our officials have not yet gone to Uran, where we don't have an observatory. "

Also read: Fire engulfs Butcher Island oil terminal off Mumbai

To understand the phenomenon, when Mumbai based environmentalist Debi Goenka was asked, he said, "Due to the absence of a strong sea breeze (towards Mumbai), most of the soot in the smoke from the island fire simply accumulated at a certain height towards Uran and Elephanta. When it rained in the evenings since Saturday, the soot came down with rainwater. It is fortunate that only one of the fuel tanks on the island caught fire. Otherwise it could have had worse environmental effects."