How Mumbai’s air is killing its citizens

Mumbai is witnessing resultant rainy evenings in November this week. Well, should rainwear come out or woolen is the challenge. Maybe a mix of both! After three decades in denial, it’s finally time to wake up and smell the coffee.

Scientists have been warning us about climate change for the past three decades and we nodded in agreement. Anything beyond nodding was done, that’s the question we need to ask. At the recently concluded COP26 Climate Summit my attention was drawn to the proud announcement that Maharashtra won the ‘Inspiring Regional Leadership’ award from the Under 2 Coalition Climate Leadership Awards 2021 and three awards by Under 2 at COP26 became the only Indian state to win one of the In Scotland!
Well, congratulations to the award winners, but also time to ask for an honest answer. What was it that Maharashtra did so uniquely that it got the award.

Having traveled some length and breadth of the landscape of our vastly diverse country, it would be dishonest to give extra marks to any state for being eco-friendly or climate resilient. Let us discuss Maharashtra especially Mumbai. Yes, the glamorous, glittering financial capital of India. Climate resilience and eco-friendly are two criteria that justify the award. Was it a well managed PR exercise or is Mumbai really a champion? Air pollution, waste management, protection of natural spaces, wildlife habitats, green zones, NDZs, etc. are all inextricably linked.

While those criticizing the Kejriwal government had a field day on national television, a rude wake-up call awaited us in Mumbai. As winter began on November 18, Mumbai overtook Delhi in the race for the most polluted city. An air quality index of 345 in a coastal city with 331 readings. The immediate justification was that vehicles were the main culprit due to the high level of pollution.

Assuming this to be true, what exactly should have been the solution? Investing in public transport. Was it done? The common man who reluctantly embodies Mumbai’s resilience, travels by bus or rail. The BEST bus network is one of the most extensive in the world, having stood the test of time. Its employees who performed their duty without any personal risk even in the times of COVID are an example of how vital and efficient the network has been. The best buses should have been the identity of the city, perhaps even its pride. What did the government do to increase the efficiency of BEST? Successive governments witnessed and encouraged its downfall. Neither money was invested in buying energy efficient, comfortable air-conditioned buses, nor was dedicated bus lanes proposed, let alone built. The shabby old buses, the old warriors are still running.

Today, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation buses are stealing a march from the satellite city of Navi Mumbai at the much-old veteran BEST. High quality air-conditioned blue buses have started making inroads on the streets of Mumbai. The time-tested BEST needs help if vehicular pollution is to be tackled seriously. End-to-end city-end energy efficient buses with the help of feeder minibuses will help in easing the traffic. But this option that can be done immediately has been put on hold and instead, the promise of a working metro network in the next five years is being shown. Does the need or execution of metro projects have to come at the cost of sacrificing BEST bus service?

All the ongoing works of metro projects are major contributors to SPM pollution of Mumbai’s air. The least that could be done was to provide dust free, smoke free travel to daily commuters. When I say project work is a big polluter it comes with facts. The iconic Blue Eyed Boy project of the previous government Metro 3 Underground was to be carried out at a cost of 3 lakh tonnes of soil excavation. When one reads the detailed project report, it is very encouraging to see the mention about air pollution, which will be caused by the transportation of soil through the roads of Mumbai. So much thought went into the report.

Well, the suggested solution was that to avoid air pollution due to the frequent movement of dumpers, the soil would be moved away from the city via sea route and to the destinations where seaports were being built . It was too good to be true. The documents sought under the RTI Act and whose replies were contested for two years, exposed the truth. Not a single barge came off Mumbai’s shores and all the soil was dumped on the low-lying areas and wetlands, being brought from Mumbai’s roads. Every street was dug up, perfectly good sidewalks were dug and laid. The city with a list of 7 lakh unsold houses is witnessing non-stop housing projects. No construction site adheres to the norms of keeping the dust level low by the use of sprinklers.

The State Pollution Control Board is a weak and feeble body which sometimes issues token notices and looks away all the time. The icing on the cake is provided by burning of garbage in the slums of forest areas of Sanjay Gandhi National Park and other areas which are inaccessible to the municipal corporation. So we have a deadly potent cocktail of dust, cement particles, carcinogens and vehicular exhaust that is finding its resting place in the lungs of the citizens of Mumbai. The readily available basic natural filter trees have been neutered for unscientific hacking passed off as trimming by the corporation. There is not a single branch or leaf left for the first five meters of the tree from the base. The breathing zone for all living beings on land, including humans, dust is constantly transmitted by vehicles.

In Mumbai and Maharashtra, ten times more trees have been lost than were planted and left to perish in what is touted as “compensatory afforestation”. If the previous government is to be believed, Maharashtra should have a forest-dense Amazon (remember the claim of having planted 50 million trees?) Somehow the trees are not visible on Google Earth images and never will be because the whole exercise Was a well managed PR initiative.

There are many contenders from the government side in Mumbai, who are trying to annihilate each other with new projects. If one agency took up the metro project, the other took up the coastal road project. Ironically, the underground metro was promoted and introduced as an alternative to road transport and to reduce pollution. Coastal Roads successfully negates that argument by providing incentives for car owners to populate the roads. The cheapest and most effective support of BEST bus service is the Mumbai suburban rail network. Rolling out end to end air conditioned rakes of the network at 3 minute intervals, it would have been a blessing to make a living for the hapless passengers traveling in sub-human conditions. This suggestion was put up in a public conversation with a senior bureaucrat who said that the idea was on the cards but it would be done after all other networks were completed!

In short, the air of Mumbai is killing its citizens because of the lack of sensitivity of the powers that govern the city. Instead of implementing cheap immediate solutions, the health of citizens continues to be abused. Carrot of better days to come inspires citizens to move forward. There are many issues that form the criteria for a healthy environment and each needs to be carefully analyzed. We will take up the issues one by one. It was on the air quality. Except Navi Mumbai, other cities are in a race to replicate the absurdity of traveling to Mumbai. Unseasonal rains a clear indicator of climate change can have a devastating effect on agriculture but for Mumbai, I would say it is a god-sent. The air quality is better after rain and as the dust settles, it is sent back into circulation along with the scorching heat of the day.

Counting on air quality performance, the first parameter for environmental performance analysis, Mumbai fares poorly and definitely deserves minus marks for it. But I think the prize is already there thanks to a well-planned campaign and a jury that didn’t have access to independent data. So let the champagne flow as we choke on foul-smelling air!

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