Mumbai’s AQI rises beyond winter levels as civic body blames low wind speed

For three days in a row Mumbai has reported Air Quality Index AQI figures that are worse than those recorded during December and January The AQI on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday was 141 140 and 134 respectively which fall in the lsquomoderatersquo yellow category as per the Central Pollution Control Board CPCB PM10 from construction dust and vehicular emissions has been the worst pollutantThe Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC however thinks lsquowind speedrsquo is to blame for the alarming AQI The wind speed during these days was in the range of 10 kmph to 13 kmph This week marks a sharp increase from Sunday when AQI was at 105 in the lsquomoderatersquo category On January 4 Mumbais AQI was 140 in the lsquomoderatersquo category but on November 27 it was 167A mist cannon is used to prevent dust pollution at the Elphinstone bridge construction site in Parel on Wednesday Wednesday The new connector is being built by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority PICASHISH RAJEAs citizens have urged the civic body to up the measures taken to curb pollution from its own road concreting works BMC has attributed the AQI levels to various factors including very low wind speed The civic body has also said that the enforceable guidelines that apply to private construction sites in the city including misting washing of the wheels of vehicles linked to construction sites and covering such vehicles that carry construction materials also apply to contractors responsible for carrying out BMCrsquos road workCity or construction siteAt present according to a senior official from the BMCrsquos roads department 918 roads are being concreted across the city as part of the BMC R17000crore road concreting project being implemented over at least three years and involving over 2200 streets across the cityBetween October 2025 and January 2026 160 concreting activities were completed across the city Right after the monsoon season ended the BMC resumed work on over 570 incomplete road works that had been stopped in May 2025 Since then some road work has been completed while new stretches have been added to the list and dug up Communitybased activists and residents have alleged that the civic body does not walk the talk when it comes to precautions to be taken for curbing construction dust pollutionFootpath work undertaken by the civic body outside the Goregaon Metro station PICBY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTResidents have alleged that the BMCs road work projects are not covered with protective material while digging is going on throughout the day They also claimed that while BMCappointed contractors carry out misting and spray water around roads this only happens in the morning hours and winds up by noon resulting in dust plumes in the vicinity throughout the dayOn the other hand the BMC has maintained that the increase in dust pollution is due to various factors such as wind speed and climatic conditions including humidity and temperature factors and vehicular combustion and it is incorrect to attribute it to civic construction work aloneActivists speakRishi Aggarwal a citybased environmentalist said ldquoEven now I see trucks from construction sites leaving behind trails of muck for 500 metres in Lokhandwala Andheri For me the simplest metric is the lived experiences of people in the vicinity I donrsquot have the resources to hire scientists or buy equipment to counter the BMCrsquos data But look at photographs of dust in the air Dust is a contributor to AQI so logically we must address the lowhanging fruit and curb construction dust to prevent air quality from worseningrdquoActivists have pointed out the direct correlation between BMC work and dust pollution with examples such as the footpath work undertaken by BMC outside the Goregaon Metro station where heaps of dust are visible Aggarwal alleged ldquoItrsquos very evident that BMC sites across the city are the worst offendersrdquoSumaira Abdulali from the Awaaz Foundation said ldquoNothing is directly correlated unless you are actually near a construction site The AQI measures that BMC gives us cover a large radius It doesnrsquot give microlevel street readings In that case definitely every construction work in the city contributes to the bad air quality we have The comparison between last year and this yearrsquos AQI data can have a lot to do with wind patterns and those are variable factors we cannot control But we can and must control the measures we take as precautionsrdquoNikhil Desai a resident of Matunga said ldquoIt is not just the civic bodys callousness with its construction work its also a complete disregard for numbers We are repeatedly told that the pollution levels are low but we can clearly see plumes of dust in the air and find it difficult to breathe while travelling through a road construction site These experiences cannot be deniedrdquoAuthorities speakA senior official said ldquoWe have noted that Mumbairsquos AQI has worsened in two days Monday and Tuesday But we must also look at wind speed and other climatic conditions Regarding road works the same measures in place for private construction sites are also in place for BMC works I myself intervened and halted a civic infrastructure project in WorliMahalaxmi area in the island city until the contractor complied with AQI guidelinesrdquoAsked why some of the BMCs road work sites werenrsquot covered with sheets an official said ldquoSeveral road works are in various stages of construction It is not that a bunch of road works were started in the past three or four days alone Dust arises from road construction during the initial stages of excavation which lasts for a short period of timerdquoAnother senior official said ldquoRoad works across the city are monitored and held against the same rules that apply to construction sitesrdquo The official added ldquoThere are multiple factors involved here Dust accumulates under parked vehicles on the street When the vehicles are moved by their owners dust is kicked up A holistic approach to the problem is neededrdquoTuesday meetAccording to an official Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani held a meeting regarding all BMC projects on Tuesday and sought an update on the amount of excavation that will take place across the city over the next few months An official said ldquoThe municipal commissionerrsquos opinion was that we must be careful not to make a messrdquoAn official said ldquoMajor excavation work is planned for the island city Work is in advanced stages in the suburbs Due to the elections several road works were slowed down for a month when rallies were taking place Now work has picked up again and is likely to peak in April and May However we take precautions and green nets are installed around all road construction sitesrdquolsquoWorks are for cityrsquos benefitrsquoSpeaking to midday Gagrani said ldquoWherever there is excavation dust is likely to be present Excavation is a brief part of the process of road concreting These works are ultimately benefiting Mumbairdquo He added that dust contributes to PM25 and PM10 pollutants in the air saying ldquoInfrastructure work as well as other private construction work has been stopped by BMC before if we found the project was generating an unacceptable amount of dustrdquoGreen nets up to four feet in height are installed around concreting work sites in contrast to construction sites which are required to be fully covered Gagrani said ldquoThis is sufficient for the work carried out during concreting Dust pollution is a temporary effect of the work BMC has undertakenrdquo He added ldquoBMCrsquos 28point guidelines for all construction sites are applicable to civic construction sites as wellrdquoOfficials confirmed that1 Misting and spraying of water around the road construction site is mandatory for the contractor2 Not all 918 roads in the city are being excavated at the same time