E-Paper
‘What’s happening inside you': Comedian Vir Das has a smoky take on Mumbai AQI, pollution | Watch
Comedian's Insta reel points towards Mumbai's AQI; HC, meanwhile, says authorities cannot blame ash clouds from Ethiopia for air pollution in the metropolis
When much of the talk about air pollution is focused on Delhi, standup comic and actor Vir Das on Thursday, November 27, posted a sarcastic video on the condition in Mumbai too. The video showed him surrounded by smoke inside a room — apparently using visual effects to make his point.
“Morning from Mumbai, everyone! Hope everybody's doing well. I'm not going to cough at this point. Our lungs have adapted. It's fine. Oh, you think this is the outside? No, this is what's happening inside you,” he quipped.
This also happened to be the day when the Bombay High Court said authorities could not just blame ash clouds from the recent volcanic eruption in Ethiopia for air pollution in the metropolis. The Air Quality Index (AQI) has been poor much before that, a bench of HC Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad remarked.
The court was urged to take up hearing into a bunch of pleas from the year 2023 on the issue of air pollution in the city.
Senior counsels Darius Khambata and Janak Dwarkadas, appearing for the petitioners, said the AQI in the city has been consistently categorised as ‘poor’ or worse, at above 300 this month.
The AQI categories range from ‘Good’ (0-50) to ‘Satisfactory’ (51-100), up to ‘Moderate’ (101-200), ‘Poor’ (201-300), and 301-400 (Very Poor). Above that is ‘Severe’.
At levels above 300, it is advised to avoid outdoor physical activity and remain indoors. If going outside is necessary, wearing a certified N95 mask is recommended, as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and other authorities.
Areas in Delhi have consistently hit the worst levels this early-winter season too.
As for Mumbai, additional government pleader Jyoti Chavan told the HC on Thursday that air pollution has worsened due to the volcanic eruption in Ethiopia two days back.
Hayli Gubbi, a volcano in Ethiopia's Afar region, erupted on Sunday, producing a large ash plume that rose to around 14 kilometres (45,000 feet) in the sky. The plume spread eastward across the Red Sea, over the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent.
The court discarded the volcanic ash argument. "Even before this eruption, if one stepped out, visibility was poor," the court said, as per news agency PTI
The bench also referred to the situation in Delhi. "What can be the most effective measures? We are all seeing what is happening in Delhi," the bench said, posting the matter for hearing on Friday.
Another celebrity, too, posted a video on the issue the same day.
Shark Tank judge and entrepreneur Vineeta Singh on Thursday voiced her concern on the deteriorating air quality in Mumbai, while calling for strict measures to be taken to control the pollution crisis.
Singh, the co-founder of Sugar Cosmetics, said that if measures to control the pollution are not introduced “one in nine Indians are likely to develop cancer” in their lifetime. Citing an ICMR study, Singh said lung cancer and breast cancer were the “leading sites of cancer in males and females".
In the video on Instagram, she highlighted that the air quality index (AQI) in Mumbai crossed 160 in the morning.
“When I went out today, I saw that there were little school kids who were standing at bus stops, there were old people who were walking, my own son's gone for a school picnic, there were people working out – when you work out you are actually doubling your breaths per minute and your exposure is much higher,” Vineeta Singh said.
"At least have strict dust and pollution control measures at these pollution sites just like China and Korea,” she said, while also saying that given Mumbai's humidity, cloud-seeding could be an option.
