Air pollution: Mumbai beats Delhi, Ahmedabad and Pune on Thursday

MUMBAI: Almost after three months when the repeated dust storms from northwest had severely polluted the quality of air Mumbaikars breathe, Thursday saw the city's average air quality once again plunging into very poor category, even beyond Delhi, Ahmedabad and Pune.
Delhi is considered as country's most polluted city. While Mumbai's average AQI was 309 on Thursday, Delhi (191), Pune (276) and Ahmedabad (297) showed relatively lower AQI. In fact Delhi fared better than Pune, Mumbai, and Ahmedabad. This is clear indication for Mumbaikars to avoid heavy exertion at least during next two says especially those who have respiratory and related health issues.
Among city's suburbs, except worli and Navi Mumbai which showed the moderate AQI level, rest all the suburbs such as Bhandup, Malad, Mazagon, Chembur, Borivali, Andheri showed 'very poor' air quality. However, Colaba remained within 'poor' mark but on its higher side.
According to Gufran Beig, SAFAR's programme director, though the wind with dust from Thar region is constantly flowing into city, it is unable to cross the high moisture or humid wall (known as low pressure area) along Mumbai that has been created due to high temperature in the northern hemisphere and pre-monsoon weather in southern parts. Thus the combination of high moisture and humidity has forced the city's rising smoke and dust to hang in the air, taking Mumbai's overall air quality index (AQI) into 'very poor' (309)zone. AQI is based on the concentration of carcinogenic particulate matter (PM2.5) in air.
According to the forecast by SAFAR, AQI of Mumbai indicates the ‘very poor’ and likely to be within ‘very Poor’ for the next 2 days.
Two successive dust storms that had hit Mumbai coast in the last week of January and first week of February this year had made Mumbai's air virtually unbreathable with air quality index touching dangerously over a 500 mark, the worst-level quality count ever for human beings to breathe.
Vehicular pollution, dust pollution, smoke from garbage burning and industries mainly contribute to the pollution in Mumbai. Conversion of all vehicles to greener fuels, power generation entirely through greener modes and pollution-free garbage disposal will be the solutions to reach net-zero pollution goals which according to experts still look like a distant dream.