Breathing life back into Mumbai: BMC allocates ₹25 crore in Budget 2023 to tackle air pollution, 14 air purifiers at 5 locations

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) budget has proposed an Air Pollution Mitigation Action Plan to tackle the city’s headlining poor air quality.

The ‘clean air’ initiative will work on three broad goals – to curb pollution concentration levels across various sectors, initiate a multi-level monitoring strategy and to decentralise planning and increase community health awareness to reduce personal exposure.

To achieve these goals, the BMC has devised seven strategies to improve the city’s air quality.

BMC's 7 strategies to tackle air pollution

Sustainable and clean construction and demolition practices and conditions to control dust pollution at building construction sites; road dust reduction measures; sustainable and clean transport measures; sustainable waste management measures; ecologically sustainable urban greening projects; effective monitoring; and communication and awareness campaigns.

Air purifiers at 5 locations across Mumbai

The allocation for these strategies is ₹25 crore. Besides, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had directed the BMC commissioner to set up air purifying towers at five key locations – Dahisar Toll Naka, Mulund Check Naka, Mankhu Kalanagar Junction and Haji Ali Junction.

Civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal said these purifiers will have a maximum range of 50 metres and will be initially set up as a pilot project.

Besides, the plan is to install 14 air-purifier towers, each 30 feet long, with a capacity to purify air within a 1km radius. The approximate cost of each tower will be around ₹3.5 crore and will operate through radio waves and electromagnetic action.