Think about pollution in India- the first thought is about Delhi, the one most polluted city. However, things are changing now. Mumbai has taken over this position and stands as India’s most polluted city. In addition, it is the second most polluted city in the world.
According to the AQI readings, Mumbai has a reading of 163. AQI readings are a Swiss based air quality monitoring tech company IQAir, where there is monitoring of real-time air quality. This is particularly stringent in India. However, different countries have different categories of the IQAir readings in terms of segregating into healthy, unhealthy and hazardous. Mumbai’s rate is regarded as moderate by the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) in India, but is considered unhealthy in the US. SAFAR measures air pollution level under the union ministry’s earth and sciences.
This shocking and sad news is said to be due to various reasons. Road or construction dust are the main contributors along with factories, power plants, airports, and waste dumps as per research by National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and IIT-Bombay in 2020. Nevertheless, it has reached the 2nd highest globally.
Not knowing whether India should be happy that Mumbai doesn’t stand among the top around the globe or be sad that it has reached till nearly the highest leaves India in this unwanted dilemma.
