Mumbai Records Season’s First Dense Haze As AQI Dips, BMC Warns Of GRAP Action

Mumbai News: Mumbai saw its first dense haze of the season on Sunday as air quality slipped further across the city. Many areas, including stretches near the coastal road, reported low visibility in the morning. The city’s overall Air Quality Index (AQI) was 176, with ozone marked as the main pollutant. A day earlier, the AQI had reached 188, almost entering the “poor” category.

Several monitoring stations continued to record readings above 200. The Hindustan Times report cited an Official as stating that teams have been deployed to inspect construction sites. “We have two squads in place who will check whether construction norms are being followed,” he said. He added that wards have been asked to be ready to enforce the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) 4 if pollution levels remain high for the next two days.

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BMC Prepares to Enforce GRAP If Pollution Persists

GRAP is a set of measures created by the central Commission for Air Quality Management to control pollution. If GRAP is implemented, construction activities, ready-mix concrete operations and other pollution sources will temporarily stop. The BMC has already issued stop-work notices to 59 such sites.

Construction Sites Face Stop-Work Notices

The civic body’s guidelines issued last year require construction sites to install barricades, cover work areas with green cloth, sprinkle water during demolition, use fogging during loading and unloading and maintain systems to monitor and extract dust.

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Experts Link Dip In Air Quality To Early La Nina

The city’s pollution levels have been rising since early November, shortly after the post-monsoon showers ended. Since then, the AQI has stayed above 100. The HT report cited Gufran Beig of the National Institute of Advanced Sciences as stating that La Nina slows wind movement in coastal cities, causing pollutants to remain in the air for longer periods.

Meteorologists said that weakening winds and cooler temperatures trap suspended particulate matter near the surface, creating smog-like conditions. After the monsoon withdrawal, the atmosphere no longer gets naturally cleaned by rain, causing AQI to fall steadily.

On Sunday, six stations, Mazgaon, Deonar, Chakala, Navy Nagar, Malad West and Powai recorded “poor” readings, while most others remained in the “moderate” range.