Mumbai air quality deteriorates for second day, local trains delayed

Mumbai's air quality reported worse that Delhi's on Wednesday, following rise in temperatures

Mumbai's air quality has further deteriorated for the second consecutive day on Wednesday. Mumbai's air quality index (AQI) stood at 119 (moderate) in comparison to Delhi's 83 (Satisfactory), making it worse than the air quality in the capital city, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (Safar). This has also impacted local trains, delaying them by 15 minutes beyond Kalyan in Mumbai suburban network due to foggy weather.

Central Railway's chief public relations officer Dr Shivraj Manaspure reported foggy weather between Vashind and Titwala (in Thane district adjoining Mumbai) from 6:30 am to 9 am and between Karjat (in Raigad district) and Badlapur (Thane) from 5.30 am to 9 am. Local trains are a vital mode of transportation in Mumbai which witnesses a daily footfall  of 3.5 million commuters on average.

Mumbai's Central Railway main line service operates on the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus-Kasara (from south Mumbai to Thane) and CSMT-Khopoli (south Mumbai to Raigad) routes.

People in Mumbai have taken to social media to share images of smog covering the city and reducing visibility. On Tuesday, the AQI stood at 115, slightly below today's record but still within the "moderate" category. The air quality at Kalanagar in Bandra Kurla area touched 178 yesterday. Many parts, including several parts of Mumbai including Andheri, Mazgaon and Navi Mumbai, even reported "poor" air quality.

This was a sharp change from earlier this week when Mumbai's air quality was under the "good" category. However, the rise in the heat over the week, an average daily maximum temperature ranging from 32 to 34 degrees, resulted in the air quality slipping to the "moderate" category.

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.

Earlier this month, a study by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) revealed the top ten most polluted cities in India. Delhi, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Noida and Meerut in the National Capital Region (NCR) were the top five most polluted cities, followed by Patna and Muzaffarpur in Bihar. After this came Nalbari in Assam, Asansol in Bengal, and Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh The study also noted that October to December to be "peak pollution" months. Since then, Delhi's air quality has improved, moving from "moderate" to "satisfactory" between Monday and Wednesday.

(With agency inputs)