Breathing uneasy in Mumbai's choke studio

Raju Korti
It probably might be the most understated exaggeration to say that in an underdeveloped country don't drink the water and in a developed country don't breathe the air. But when you live in a country whose recognition keeps swinging between developed and underdeveloped and more so in a grotesque urban behemoth like Mumbai, you are screwed anywhichways.

For the past few days, the quality of air in Mumbai, expressed in terms of Air Quality Index at over 300, has gone from "poor" to "very poor." Between 280-300 it is just a shade better than worst emergency. Put simply, the greater the level of air pollution the greater the health hazard. In the case of Mumbai, the natural advantages of a healthy environment are put paid to by sheer human apathy. 

As a city blessed with a coastal landscape one would perhaps argue that it is the recipient of a healthy Ozone layer. Insensitivity towards coastal regulations, growing particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide have left this financial nerve centre gasping for breath. The deterioration in air quality during this time of the year is not a new phenomenon. In the thick of what Mumbai believes is a winter, a thick blanket of smog and haze play havoc with the citizenry, giving rise to ailments that are eventual death warrants. To attribute the downslide in the Air Quality Index to seasonal changes alone is a travesty of truth, to put it mildly. All other apprehensions in the wake of this hazardous climatic anomaly are conveniently brushed under the carpet with an assurance that the city will breathe easy once the situation eases in a few days.

The fact is Mumbai will reel from poor air quality till end February. The two months are enough to create more chronic patients of asthma, bronchitis, lung infections and many such attendant health risks. Covid was just a red alert that wearing masks was not just a passing phase but a grim reminder that they are now a compulsion.

An estimated 275-300 vehicles are added on to the congested streets of Mumbai every day. While some of these are emission compliant, most spew toxic fumes. Navigating through the city's expressways and arterial roads gives one a first-hand experience of the terrible quality of air they are forced to welcome into their lungs. At this rate Mumbai will tip Delhi with reasons to spare.

For someone like me, living in downmarket suburb of Borivali is a blessing in disguise since the Sanjay Gandhi National Park is close by and the advantages of fresh air far outweigh the dangers of leopards streaking in human habitation. Elsewhere in other pockets, the AQI keeps oscillating between 228 and 280 what with a spate of construction activity queering the pitch. Those who point out to the industries opting out to outskirts forget that vehicular emission and bio-fuel emissions from an uncontrolled and politically patronized slums are a much bigger threat. Climate jargons on weather disturbances are Latin and Greek to people who couldn't care less about the disservice and impairment of the environs they wantonly cause.

Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, the agency implementing environmental legislations believes that the onus of bringing down the AQI in Mumbai rests majorly with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai for whom the health of its coffers is far more important. The civic body seems to have paid little attention to the Mumbai Climate Action Plan which has both short-term and long-term initiatives to mitigate environmental degradation. There has been next to nothing efforts to reduce landfill waste, shifting to zero emission vehicles, boosting biodiversity and, little monitoring. They find solace in their complacency that Mumbai is much better than Delhi.

Someone in the civic body seems to know that unlike Delhi, which is landlocked, Mumbai has a seashore. The sea and land breeze are known to clear the city's pollutants. It also has the added advantage that sea water is CO2 absorbent and has a large tract of forest cover although it is neutralized by the concrete jungle that the city obtains through construction and infrastructure development activity round the year. 

The Maharashtra government tries a crooked trick to control vehicular pollution by allowing potholes to remain unattended but hardened Mumbaikars wouldn't be deterred. As long as Delhi and Kolkata hog centre-stage, everything is hunky dory. As more virgin lands and their greenery get outraged with an endless flurry of new developmental activity, the noose gets tighter. For most people protecting the environment is a luxury and a glorified fad but that is an outdated 20th-century worldview from a time when industrialization was thought of as an end goal, waste as growth and wealth a thick haze of air pollution.

You can choke on that!

(PS: Death by suicide has gained currency. How about Slow Death by Pollution?)