Mumbai, March 18
Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has mooted car-free days in different areas of Mumbai as part of efforts to control air pollution.
According to MPCB officials the first such exercise conducted at Carter Road in
Mumbai’s suburb of Bandra last month has yielded encouraging results.
“It is an idea worth taking up across the city at least once a month since pollution levels have gone up alarmingly,|” MPCB member secretary Mahesh Pathak said.
The car-free day organised by MPCB along with an NGO called Awaaz Foundation showed a marked decrease in air
pollution, according to Pathak.
According to studies done by MPCB, air pollution in Mumbai has gone up sharply in the past four years. Atmospheric pollutants like sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and respirable suspended particulate matter
(RSPM) have increased 36 per cent, 13 per cent, and 11 per cent, respectively, in the city.
Worse still, the concentration of these pollutants have been increasing steadily despite the adoption of pollution control measures, one study conducted over 19 years indicated.
MPCB officials say, the adoption of Euro III norms have only been of limited help as more cars have come on to the city’s roads. “Some 300 vehicles are registered daily in Mumbai,” says MPCB secretary.
The pollution board,
he says, is pushing for active controls on the vehicles deployed in the city’s roads.
