Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai

Mumbai, Oct 23: Mumbai has recorded 231 days in the ‘Good’ and ‘Satisfactory’ Air Quality Index (AQI) categories as of October 22 this year, compared with 218 days in 2025, 216 days in 2024 and 185 days in 2023, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.

According to the civic body, data from the PRANA portal of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change showed that Mumbai’s PM10 concentration declined by approximately 48 per cent between 2017-18 and 2025-26.

The BMC has undertaken several measures to control air pollution, including inspections at construction sites, road cleaning, monitoring of construction and demolition waste, and enforcement against activities contributing to pollution.

The civic body has issued 28-point air pollution mitigation guidelines for construction sites and deployed 76 ward-level squads to conduct random and surprise inspections. Each squad is required to inspect at least two construction sites daily and monitor compliance at identified pollution hotspots.

Violations can invite enforcement action, including show-cause notices, stop-work notices and sealing of sites. Inspection reports, photographs and videographs are used to support such action, the BMC said.

The civic body has also made sensor-based air quality monitors mandatory at construction sites. A total of 3,166 sites have installed these monitors and integrated them with a central dashboard to enable the BMC to track pollution readings.

To control road dust, the BMC carries out deep cleaning and routine sweeping using 29 multipurpose vehicles. Developers and contractors are also required to clean roads adjoining their construction sites, depending on the size of the projects.

The BMC is enforcing regulations requiring construction and demolition waste vehicles to remain covered and have their wheels washed before entering public roads. Waste transportation and authorised disposal are tracked through the Mumbai Debris Control and Tracking System (MDCTS), which covers project proponents, developers and other planning authorities.

Addressing emissions from bakeries, the BMC said they account for approximately 3.5 per cent of Mumbai’s particulate matter emissions. Of the city’s 593 bakeries, 209 were already using cleaner fuels, while another 175 had converted. Sixty-nine bakeries are undergoing conversion, 87 remain non-compliant and eight have shut down, the civic body said.

The BMC is also installing air pollution control devices at 10 crematoria and maintaining surveillance at identified open-burning hotspots.

For the winter season, the civic body has issued its Winter Air Pollution Mitigation and Enforcement Action Plan 2026. The plan covers construction-site compliance, road dust, open burning, pollution hotspots and vehicle checks.

The BMC is also conducting public awareness campaigns on air and noise pollution caused by firecrackers. Firecrackers are prohibited on public streets, roads and other public places, including footpaths and silence zones, the civic body said.