The air quality showed slight signs of improvement in Mumbai which has been witnessing higher Air Quality Index (AQI) this week slipping from “good” to “moderate” category. However, the AQI still remained higher than that in Delhi while the people in the national capital woke up to a smoggy morning.
According to the data published by the Central Pollution Control Board on Thursday at 8 am, the Air Quality Index in Mumbai was recorded at 166 against the AQI of 199 which was reported on Wednesday. Whereas, Delhi logged an AQI of 115 as against 129 that was reported a day earlier.
Surprisingly, three more metropolitan cities namely Pune, Chennai, and Ahmedabad reported AQIs more than Delhi.
While Pune recorded a dip in Thursday’s AQI of 150 as compared to that on Wednesday which was 170, Chennai and Ahmedabad reported significant jumps. Chennai’s AQI on Wednesday was 109 which scaled upto 118 on Thursday while in Ahmedabad the AQI of 106 recorded on Wednesday went upto 132 on Thursday, as per the CPCB data.
Mumbai's guardian minister Deepak Kesarkar blamed the ongoing works of development projects such as the metro for the degrading air quality in the city, while adding that it was not chemical pollution.
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“The pollution in Mumbai is not a chemical pollution, it is mostly dust pollution,” Kesarkar said, adding that authorities are looking for ways to curb it, as per PTI.
The Air Quality Index, which is a tool for effective communication of air quality status has six scales to comprehend the quality of air.
According to the AQI scale, the air quality check between 0 and 50 are considered "good", 51 and 100 are "satisfactory", 101 and 200 are "moderate", 201 and 300 are "poor", 301 and 400 are "very poor", and 401 and 450 are "severe" and "severe+" when AQI exceeds 450.