Are BMC’s efforts to curb air pollution just smoke and mirrors?

Budget for FY 2024 highlights plan to tackle bad air days, including ` 10 cr for air-purification units

First India Bureau Mumbai: Even as the city administration plans to tackle air pollution, experts worry that this might be too little too late.

According to SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecast and Research) data, the city saw just one day of “satisfactory” air quality in the 92 days from November 01, 2022, to January 31, 2023; against 66 days of “poor” or “very poor” ratings on the air quality index.

With this in mind, the city’s budget for fiscal 2024 highlights measures to tackle pollution.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation plans to spend Rs10 crore to set up five vehicle-mounted air purification units at the city’s most crowded areas by the end of the fiscal. These would “filter out Particulate Matter (PM)

2.5 and 10 and harmful gases such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide,” a report in the Times of India said.

The same report also quotes BMC chief IS Chahal as saying that radio waves generated by the proposed smog towers—each 30 feet high and covering a 1km radius—”would enable dust particles to get ionized and thus further attract more dust particles”.

Theoretically, the technology would cre- ate bubbles of clean air. However, not everyone is convinced, with officials admitting that setting up smog towers could take a while.

“Air pollution has reached unprecedented levels. BMC is trying to bandage the injury rather than ensure a diagnosis,” Bhagwan Kesbhat, of Navi Mumbaibased environment group Waatavaran Foundation, said.