Keypoints:
- In Maharashtra, nine stations in using Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane recorded Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) concentration higher than permissable limits.
- Mumbai’s concentration of Particulate Matter (PM) 10 this year was 95 micrograms per cubic metre (g/m3) down 26% from last year.
Since 2009, the city’s concentration of respirable suspended particulate matter (PM10) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) in the air is the lowest but is still above the permissable limits, according to Maharashtra Pollution Control Board’s Air Quality Status of Maharashtra report.
This year (April 2019 to March 2020) Mumbai’s concentration of PM 10 was 95 micrograms per cubic metre (g/m3) down 26% from last year but much above the permissable limif of 60 g/m3. In the similar way, NOx levels in the city fell to 47 g/m3, a 37% decline vis-a-vis 2018-19 but higher than the permissable limits of 40 g/m3. In 2009-10, the PM10 and NOx levels for the city were 178 g/m3 and 99 g/m3.
Entering our lungs, PM10 can cause respiratory health problems and NOx which is a result of vehicular emission, can reduce the lung function. For PM10 levels in the city, the most polluted was that of Kurla which was recorded as 140 g/m3. Across the state, the highest NOx levels of 87 g/m3 were recorded at Mumbai international airport in Sahar followed by Sion and Kurla at 79 and 76 g/m3 respectively.
The decline was result of better monitoring and implementation of norms , says the officcials from MPCB. However, the experts are vary about the findings.
“Over the past few years, pollution levels around us are only rising. Several independent studies have indicated the same. We have seen a lot of major construction activity which only adds go pollution. So, one shouldn’t drop guard based on these figures. Instead, the pollution control board must focus on better measures to fight air pollution in the city like Mumbai to meet international standards,” said Bhagwan Kesbhat, founder of the NGO Waatavaran.
While concentration of PM10 and NOx showed a decline over past few years, the report shows that PM10 levels across 11 real time monitoring stations in Mumbai were above the permissable limits in 2019-20.
