After Delhi, Mumbai is now gasping for breath as AQI reaches severe levels; BMC enforces GRAP-4

Mumbai (The Uttam Hindu): After Delhi, Mumbai is now facing suffocating conditions due to rising air pollution. The situation has worsened so much that the Air Quality Index (AQI) in most parts of the city has slipped from ‘poor’ to ‘severe’. In response, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has enforced GRAP-4 (the highest-level restrictions).

Under GRAP-4, BMC has issued notices to stop and shut down work at more than 50 construction sites. Officials are continuously monitoring these locations. The civic body has also appealed to small industries—such as bakeries and marble-cutting units—to shift their cleaning and dust-producing activities elsewhere. Strict action will be taken against anyone who fails to follow BMC orders.

Flying squads have been deployed across several Mumbai wards. These teams include engineers, policemen, and GPS-tracked vehicles that will monitor activities and check emissions in real time.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai Congress unit has released a plan to control pollution. Under the “Mumbai Clean Air Action Plan,” it stressed that breathing clean air is a basic right. The plan includes planting 10 lakh trees in the city and enforcing stricter pollution-control rules for construction sites, industries, and vehicles.