The Indian Express on October 19 started its series 'Death By Breath', which highlighted the growing menace of air pollution in Mumbai and showed how man-made factors like construction and open burning of garbage are the key contributors.
Experts, however, advocate for a public dashboard to be set up by the civic body where the list of repeat offenders can be published, on the lines of RBI releasing its list of defaulters. This move, they believe, would create a significant reputational deterrent for developers.
In comparison, Delhi installed a lot of monitoring stations during the same five-year period. While the number of monitoring stations in 2018 was 25, it rose to 35 in 2020, and Delhi now has 40 monitoring stations.
Pollutant PM2.5 are fine particles that comprise smoke and industrial emission, vehicular emission and dust particles displaced from construction sites or roads.
The pollution levels in Indian cities are rising at an alarming rate. According to IQAir’s 2022 list, a Swiss air quality technology company, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai are top Indian cities witnessing high levels of air pollution