Nearly 650 residents across Mumbai have written a letter to the Brihanmumbai Corporation (BMC) chief Iqbal Singh Chahal complaining about the city's worsening air pollution.
Mumbai's Air Quality Index (AQI) has been hovering around the "poor" to "very poor" category over the past few weeks, making it one of the most polluted cities in India at present.
The residents have decided to take matters in their own hands and write to the BMC about the deteriorating condition of the city's AQI.
They have urged the BMC to stop or reduce construction work in the city among other suggestions like stop felling of trees, spraying roads with water, etc.
“During Covid times we led the way in managing the disease and saving lives. Today the lives saved are being lost! All because of corporate and administrative negligence and emphasis on the wrong ideas of development,” read the letter.
The move comes a day after Mumbai's AQI actually saw a gradual improvement as it went from 'poor' to 'moderate' category in the span of 24 hours.
BMC set to take various measures to tackle air pollution
The BMC held a high-level meeting with its top officials at its headquarters on Wednesday.
It was decided in the meeting that the civic body will undertake a handful measures to improve the air quality of Mumbai and in accordance with the same, the BMC will install Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS) in Sewri, Ghatkopar, Govandi, Charkop in Kandivali and Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udhyan at Byculla zoo.
These new air purifying stations will be operational by May 15, 2023, said the civic officials.
The civic body will also be inviting tenders this month to install air purifiers at Haji Ali, Mankhurd, Kalanagar, Dahisar and Mulund. Additionally, the BMC will also procure 200 mobile air-purifier vehicles which will be assisting in mitigating the dust particles generated from roads and areas where construction works are underway.
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