Mumbai has only 30 air quality monitoring stations against CPCB norms

Mumbai needs 4850 Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations CAAQMS according to Central Pollution Control Board CPCB guidelines but has only 30 CAAQMS installed across the city at present according to information from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC and CPCB accessed by middayOf these 28 monitoring stations are operational The BMC will install five more as per CPCB guidelines while the CPCB is also installing new stations and is coordinating with BMC to identify localities where they can be installedLack of monitoringAccording to the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change guidelines ldquoThe air quality monitoring station must adequately reflect population distribution characteristics such as residential traffic industrial and background areas and urban contiguity and the rapid expansion of periurbansuburban regionsrdquo The CPCB guidelines point to a requirement of one air quality monitoring station for a population of 4 lakh people These monitoring stations should be installed at residential and commercial locations along with areas around open green spaces to ensure comprehensive AQI Air Quality Index readings for the cityMore checks neededAccording to CPCBrsquos Sameer mobile application of the 30 air quality monitoring stations 28 are operational of which five are operated by the civic body nine by IITBombay and 14 by the CPCB However it is optimal for the city to have up to 50 monitoring stationsHow monitoring helpsOptimally placed monitoring stations help in gathering data on AQI which presents a true picture of the air quality of Mumbai according to insights from civic officialsOfficial SpeakldquoAs per population density we have fewer CAAQMS but given the geography we are not truly falling short To bridge the gap in data gathering BMC tied up with IIT Kanpur for installation of 75 sensors for hyperlocal monitoring under MANAS With this the monitoring density will shrink to about one sensor or station per 56 sq km I met with IIT Kanpur representatives this week The sensors under MANAS will be installed by October Monsoon months have better air quality which begins to deteriorate once the rains subside We have our plans ready with that timeline in mindrdquo said a senior civic officialWhat BMC plans to dohellipIn December 2025 BMC decided to install five new CAAQMS mdash at CD Deshmukh Park in Mulund West Pramod Mahajan Park in Dadar West Chhota Kashmir in AareyGoregaon East Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Recreation Ground in Dahisar East and at the BMC K West ward office in Andheri West These locations were selected after studying the requirements of the area as per CPCB guidelinesCPCB guidelines for CAAQMSgtgt Minimum distance of 3 km to be maintained between two stationsgtgt 34 of the quadrant must have free air flowgtgt It should not be located under a building or a tree as pollens or other matter can influence particulate matter readingsgtgt Should be 35 metres above road pavementgtgt There should be no major road or highway within 500 metres of a stationReadings made inaccurateWhile CPCB guidelines were adhered to the BMC noticed that over time readings from the stations became compromised due to rapid development ldquoIn Mazagaon we noticed that a bakery later came up in the immediate vicinity of our monitoring station Pollution from the bakery compromised our readings The readings can be influenced by air patterns open spaces and building heightsrdquo an official saidUse of mobile devices vansldquoWe receive feedback of spikes in localised air quality in high traffic areas or near the playground referring to the Western Express Highway and Shivaji Park playground The guidelines say that ambient air should be monitored instead of source pollution such as the arearsquos near kerb side traffic or open playgrounds Other methods are available to gauge and tackle localised pollution such as handheld devices and mobile vans BMC is procuring theserdquo an official said