Big talk on environment, allocation is mere ₹25 cr

Unveiling the Mumbai Air Pollution Action Plan, chief Iqbal Singh Chahal said that he has deliberated on the issue at length with chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis. He said that the issue is at the top of the corporation’s agenda for the next financial year

Mumbai: During the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) budget announcement on Saturday, civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal spent a significant amount of time addressing the city’s burgeoning air pollution crisis.

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Meanwhile, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, during a post-budget interaction with industry stakeholders in the city, suggested mobilising and forming clusters for waste treatment to mitigate Mumbai’s air pollution.

Unveiling the Mumbai Air Pollution Action Plan, Chahal said that he has deliberated on the issue at length with chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis. He said that the issue is at the top of the corporation’s agenda for the next financial year. Ironically, the amount allocated for dust control measures stands at a mere ₹25 crore or 0.4% of the budget estimate for FY 2023-24.

Chahal said, “Several citizens have expressed their concern on the matter of air quality. The CM and Dy CM agree that the BMC cannot remain a silent spectator to Mumbai’s deteriorating air quality. The BMC will take a more active role in monitoring air pollution.”

“The four major contributing factors to Mumbai’s deteriorating air quality have been identified as road and construction dust, traffic congestion, industries and power sector, and waste burning. To address this emergency, the BMC announces a seven-step strategy,” the budget document authored by Chahal read.

“The main impact of this is air pollution. Though the real estate sector is the backbone of the economy and provides employment to millions of people, dust pollution has emerged as a major problem. Dust needs to be curbed from demolition activities and debris transportation, which we will achieve through the seven steps,” he said.

These measures include cleaner construction and demolition practices, reducing road dust, managing transport demand by adding 3,500 electric buses to Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport’s (BEST) fleet, and switching to cleaner fuel for government vehicles, better waste management, urban greening, adding another five air quality monitoring stations across the city, and awareness campaigns through the media and NGOs.

“A total of 14 smog towers will be installed across seven zones in Mumbai, with two in each zone. The height of each tower will be roughly 30 feet and will occupy an area of 2 square feet. The towers control air quality through radio waves and electromagnetic action. The particulate material gets ionised and attracts other air particles, becoming heavier and settling instead of remaining in the air. These towers will reduce 45% of pollution in a radius of 1 km. The cost of each tower will be ₹3.5 crore. Mumbai will be the first city in India to have so many towers,” the BMC chief said.

However, what the document glaringly leaves out, which Chahal did not clarify when asked, is that the BMC intends to rely on specious technology to mitigate air pollution, which leading experts in the field are staunchly against and which have also been proven ineffective when tested in New Delhi.

“This is highly misguided and goes against all science-based policy making approaches. There has been no scientific evidence that air purifiers work,” cautioned Ronak Sutaria, founder of Respirer Living Sciences, which works on issues of air pollution and policy research.

Other experts also panned the decision. Sunil Dahiya, an analyst with the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, said, “These devices have not, and cannot work. Besides, they are being powered by coal-fired electricity, so they are in fact adding to pollution in some other part of the country.”

Debi Goenka, executive trustee, Conservation Action Trust, added, “Smog towers have not worked anywhere. This is a complete waste of money that could have been better utilised for setting up a real time air monitoring network with real time alerts.”

In addition to these 14 devices, the civic body has also planned to install five ambient air purifiers at Dahisar Toll Naka, Mulund Check Naka, Mankhurd, Kalanagar and Haji Ali junctions. Each machine will cost ₹1 crore. “This sort of geoengineering is a false solution. It simply won’t work,” Gufran Beig, founder of System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the country’s first indigenous air quality monitoring network, said.