At special meeting on Tuesday, BMC chief tells heads of all civic corporations to urgently work on pollution mitigation
Thick smog engulfs the high-rises in Lower Parel area. Pic/Ashish Raje
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) chief Bhushan Gagrani on Tuesday chaired the fifth meeting of the Coordination Committee for Air Pollution in view of the worsening air quality in the city. At the meeting, attended by the chief of the corporations from the Mumbai Metropolitan area, Gagrani, advising them to work on pollution mitigation, asked all civic officials to focus on a five-kilometre radius in areas where the Air Quality Index (AQI) is poor.
All areas have their guidelines for pollution mitigation, he said. On Tuesday, the overall AQI recorded in the city stood in the ‘moderate category’ at 145. On Sunday evening, the environment ministry’s SAMEER app recorded the city’s overall AQI at 180, marking the fourth consecutive day of thick smog. Earlier this week, the AQI briefly crossed the 200 mark in several places, entering the ‘poor’ category.
BMC chief Bhusan Gagrani
Present in the meeting were Member Secretary of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board Dr Avinash Dhakne, Commissioner of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation Kailas Shinde, Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Commissioner Sanjay Katkar, BMC Joint Municipal Commissioner Chandrashekhar Chore, police officials from all over the city, local self-bodies, and other agencies working in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).
Gagrani said that agencies must comply with the Bombay High Court’s directives and pay special attention to areas with declining air quality, and their focus should be on factors contributing to pollution within a five-kilometre radius.
“Controlling air pollution is a collective responsibility of all agencies. If one agency performs exceptionally well, but the others fail, it will impact the entire metropolitan area. Therefore, all agencies should work collectively and implement strict measures,” Gagrani said. BMC officials who attended the meeting said that the civic body chief has asked all agencies across the MMR to work on pollution mitigation.
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