- 14 minutes ago
In an interview on 5 Live, author and Mumbaikar Meghna Pant expressed outrage over Mumbai's deteriorating air quality, which saw the city's AQI surpass Delhi's and touch severe levels. Highlighting the plight of citizens struggling with smog, illness, and civic neglect despite paying hefty taxes, she demanded accountability from municipal authorities. Meghna Pant urged citizens to reject passive endurance, stating, "We have to replace this, you know, this phrase of the Mumbai spirit, which basically means tolerate whatever's being given out to you. We have to replace it with Mumbaikars' anger now." Calling for decisive administrative intervention similar to previous food hygiene crackdowns, she added, "We need a Tukaram Mundhe for Mumbai's air quality." Pant recommended strict dust suppression, mechanized road sweeping, transparent ward-wise pollution tracking, and penalties for violators.
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00:00For the longest time, we thought, well, Mumbai has the sea, Delhi has the smog.
00:06At least that's what we've known for years, right?
00:10But the city by the sea is now choking too.
00:15Here's a reality check.
00:16On the 24th of October, this Saturday, Mumbai's AQI touched 322.
00:24In the very poor category, while Delhi's stood at 191 in the poor category.
00:30Imagine that.
00:31322 for Mumbai, 191 for them.
00:36But that's not an aberration.
00:38It's not just a one-day figure that has really caught our intention.
00:41Year-on-year numbers from Mumbai makes it even worse.
00:45On the 23rd of October, Mumbai's AQI rose from 116 to 168.
00:53Let's look at those figures now, comparing Mumbai through the years.
01:00October 24th, it jumped from 88 to 322.
01:04On October 25th, it climbed from 65 last year to 180 this year.
01:10So, why is Mumbai's natural advantage failing?
01:14Is it construction dust and traffic alone?
01:17Or is it a bigger pollution cocktail that is at play?
01:21For starters, construction dust from cities, relentless redevelopment, vehicle emission, industrial pollution as well, and even dry post-monsoon weather.
01:31All of them have a role to play.
01:33Mumbai's coastal location has traditionally helped disperse the pollutants.
01:37Sea breezes can carry pollutants and the polluted air away.
01:41But right now, the winds may not be enough.
01:49When winds are weak, pollutants linger instead of dispersing.
01:53Farm fires in parts of Maharashtra and neighbouring states could be adding to that pollution load depending on wind direction
01:59and speed.
01:59And then comes the firecrackers, adding another burst of toxic smoke to the already polluted air.
02:07Mumbai's worsening air has also drawn the Mumbai High Court's attention.
02:12The court has expressed serious concern over the city's deteriorating air quality, calling the situation alarming and questioning how officials
02:19can sleep peacefully while citizens struggle to breathe.
02:22It has also criticised slow enforcement, lack of public warning and ongoing violations, despite prior orders.
02:29Meanwhile, Mumbai's air pollution is not simply a Delhi problem playing out in another city.
02:34It's very, very different.
02:36Look at those figures there.
02:38October 23rd, Mumbai in 25 was 116.
02:45Well, on 23rd at least, it's the same number.
02:47In 25 and 26, if you see, on the 24th of October, Mumbai was 88 and then it went all
02:56the way to 300 plus.
02:58On the 25th of October in 25, it was 65 and the same date in 26, it's 180.
03:12Well, it is a warning that no coastline sea breeze or natural advantage can guarantee clean air when emissions keep
03:19rising and weather conditions turn unfavourable.
03:22So the question is no longer whether Mumbai can escape the pollution season.
03:26It is whether the city can really act before toxic air becomes its own annual fixture.
03:30And remember, here on 5 Live, I've been constantly telling you that air pollution is not a winter problem.
03:37Air pollution is not a farm fire problem.
03:40Air pollution is not a Delhi problem.
03:42Air pollution is an India problem.
03:44It's an urban India problem, importantly, and one that needs a national plan.
03:49A plan that we already have, but it lacks in implementation grossly.
03:54But let's see how Mumbai-kers are actually taking this.
03:57Joining me next is Meghna Pant.
03:59Meghna is a Mumbai-ker, you know, breathes the city, lives the city.
04:05We've been talking about this issue for quite some time.
04:07Meghna, I never thought the Delhi versus Mumbai battle will take us to pollution, but here we are.
04:13And Mumbai is actually doing much worse than Delhi at the moment when it comes to pollution figures.
04:20Is that shocking for Mumbai-kers or did you just see it coming?
04:25I'm completely appalled.
04:27I mean, yesterday, if you remember, it was Sharath Purnima and I was saying a prayer with my daughters.
04:30And you will not believe it, we couldn't even see the full moon due to the pollution.
04:35Every second person in the city is sick, every second child is coughing.
04:39We're all wearing masks.
04:40We're buying air purifiers.
04:42There's poop in our water.
04:43I mean, what are we supposed to do?
04:45Do we stop breathing?
04:46Do we stop drinking water?
04:47There is so much anger that is finally building up in this so-called Mumbai spirit.
04:51I always say we need to replace this, you know, this phrase of the Mumbai spirit, which basically means to
04:56tolerate whatever is being, you know, given out to you.
04:58We have to replace it with Mumbai-kers anger now because I want to ask a very simple question, Sonal,
05:03that what are we paying for?
05:05What are Mumbai-kers paying for?
05:07We live in one of the most, the most expensive city in the country.
05:10We are paying exorbitant rents.
05:12We are paying the highest tax payers in the country.
05:15We are spending hours commuting.
05:17We are contributing enormously to India's economy.
05:19What are we getting in return?
05:21I mean, every monsoon you see potholes, people are falling out of overcrowded trains.
05:25Roads are perpetually under construction.
05:27You've lived here, right, as well.
05:29And now we have air that we cannot even breathe.
05:31So the air quality has deteriorated so much, so dramatically after the monsoon that, you know, those facts that you
05:37were pointing out are alarming, they're shocking.
05:39And more importantly, they're absolutely unacceptable.
05:42And it's time, I think, Mumbai-kers need to show their anger and speak up.
05:47I think we're not doing that enough.
05:49That's true.
05:49But, you know, pollution, Meekra, is not a new problem.
05:52It's something that we in Delhi have been at least talking about for the past decade or so.
05:57I've been screaming through the roof trying to get everybody's attention to the issue.
06:01And I never thought that Mumbai, which is gradually getting there, we saw a couple of metros, you know, move
06:07towards that.
06:08Bangalore, for example, again, has very bad pollution due to traffic, due to exhaustion.
06:13Kolkata, again, another metro has very bad pollution issues as well.
06:17But, you know, with Delhi, there was always an excuse.
06:19In the past decade where we've seen, you know, bad pollution, we've blamed farm fires, we've blamed, you know, so
06:26many other factors because, you know, it's the neighboring states problem.
06:30But when it comes to Mumbai, it's actually self-built.
06:33We understand now that most of it is coming from construction and the, you know, deadly cocktail that builds along
06:40with it, along with traffic congestion as well.
06:42So, when it comes to Mumbai, one is hoping that the government actually comes up with a solution quickly.
06:48Absolutely. I mean, you know, Sona, there's a difference between accountability and responsibility.
06:53Now, you're saying there's a diktat that's been passed that citizens cannot burst firecrackers and actually agree with it.
06:58We should also buy fewer cars. Now, understand that, right?
07:01One per family, I think there should be a limit to it.
07:03But where is the onus at, right? It's not only on the citizens.
07:06What are the authorities doing? I looked at the BMC handle.
07:09There's nothing that's come out or there's no statement of what is their plan of action.
07:14Now, Sona, let's not forget BMC has the money.
07:16It's the richest civic body in Asia. Forget in India.
07:20I mean, the city is getting 80, 81,000 crores.
07:24Where is this money going? Where is the accountability?
07:26They have such enormous financial reserves.
07:29And your civic administration, you have the resources to make clean air a priority.
07:35And I feel like we need a Tukaram Munde for Mumbai's air quality.
07:39We need a clean-up, a drastic clean-up, the way he cleaned up what I call our food pollution.
07:44You know, he went to the restaurants, he went everywhere, and he cleaned up the way we were eating.
07:49We need a Tukaram Munde for our air pollution now.
07:53And we've seen, now Maharashtra has seen how decisive enforcement is pushing food businesses to take hygiene seriously.
07:59We need that same sense of urgency, Sona, when it comes to the air that we are breathing.
08:03You know, someone who's going to inspect your construction sites that you just mentioned,
08:07who's going to penalize violations, who's going to hold contractors accountable,
08:10and ensure that the rules that are actually in place, all the rules are there.
08:14They're just not being enforced because there's no fear, right?
08:17There's only favor.
08:18So if the BMC cannot find someone who's willing to take ownership of this crisis,
08:22I would request, actually plead with Mr. Tukaram Mundeji,
08:25to, you know, bring that same sense of urgency to the city's air pollution problem.
08:29Because this is not about a lack of money, it's about a lack of urgency in execution.
08:35That's actually an excellent idea.
08:37And I know Mr. Mundeji watches the program regularly.
08:41And so I'm sure this plea is reaching him.
08:43And I really hope something is done.
08:45It actually speaks of the terrible structure that we are all in.
08:49We are pitting all our hopes on this one guy.
08:52One guy, one honest man who's doing his job,
08:55and we have pinned all our hopes on him,
08:57while a multi-crore, you know, BMC turns the other way.
09:02And the problem, you know, help me understand this, Meghna.
09:06In Delhi, for the longest time, we had to educate people and even politicians
09:11when it came to understanding air pollution.
09:15They just kept thinking,
09:16because air pollution by its very nature does not impact you immediately,
09:21but it kills you slowly, people did not even wake up to the reality.
09:25Is it the same in Mumbai or have they learned the lesson from Delhi?
09:30I think we haven't learned the lesson from Delhi.
09:32What's happening is, you know, this, first of all,
09:34we need to stop comparing the two cities.
09:36I mean, you know, this is like,
09:37we should not compare ourselves to something that's worse off.
09:40I mean, I love Delhi.
09:41I spent my childhood in Delhi.
09:43So whenever this Mumbai versus Delhi argument comes up,
09:45I always say it's not about, you know,
09:47just because Delhi's pollution is bad,
09:49we should be empathetic towards that.
09:51We should help them.
09:52We are the same country, right?
09:53So this should not become a competition between the two cities.
09:56What we need instead is to learn from Delhi,
09:58what is Delhi doing to quell its air pollution
10:00and take lessons from that.
10:02We need a proper, you know, post-monsoon in Mumbai,
10:04we have seen that October does get sweltering.
10:07But right now, Sonal,
10:08it's reached a point where you feel like there's a dead corpse,
10:10like sitting on your chest.
10:12There is no movement in the air.
10:13And I live pretty close to the sea
10:15and there's just no movement.
10:17You feel like you're breathing in this hot sulfur.
10:19And I've lived in Mumbai for almost now 40 years.
10:22I've never seen this kind of air pollution to this level.
10:25And I feel like what we need
10:27is a proper post-monsoon action plan, right?
10:29I don't know why every year we're surprised
10:31when this happens, right?
10:32I mean, obviously, government cannot control weather.
10:36You cannot control what's not within your control, of course.
10:39I'm not saying that.
10:40But every year, we're so surprised when the monsoon comes.
10:42We're so surprised when AQI becomes terrible in October and May.
10:45I'm saying we need a proper post-monsoon action plan.
10:49You mechanize this, you know, vacuum sweeping on dusty roads.
10:53I'd visited Beijing once.
10:54And they do this sort of, you know,
10:56water spraying of the roads every night and every morning.
10:59We need actions like that.
11:00We need this strict dust suppression
11:02at these construction sites that you had mentioned.
11:04We need these trucks.
11:05You see these trucks that are openly carrying debris.
11:07Cover them up.
11:08They have to be penalties for repeat offenders.
11:11There have to be stronger enforcement against polluting vehicles.
11:14And the space burning that you had also mentioned earlier.
11:17You know, there has to be this ward-wise
11:18kind of air quality monitoring, which is not taking place.
11:21There's no transparency in the system.
11:23And you punish and publish the violations, right?
11:26The penalties have to be so strict, so drastic,
11:29that people are actually scared of the system.
11:32And officers have to be held accountable.
11:34So now they have to be made responsible.
11:36Because, I mean, if it can work in cities such as Beijing
11:39that were as polluted as, say, Delhi and Mumbai a few decades ago,
11:43if all this can work, if dust control measures can work in Beijing,
11:47why can't it work in our city?
11:49Actually, Meghna, I think solutions are much more possible
11:52and much more implementable in Mumbai compared to Delhi.
11:55Delhi has a host of issues, right?
11:57And Delhi also has a problem of implementation
11:59because the government does not have the control of the police.
12:02It's a union territory.
12:02It comes under, the police comes under home ministry.
12:05Then there are areas which are under NDMC.
12:07So it's a very, you know, combination of issues.
12:10In Mumbai, it's a straight cut.
12:11Mumbai is very, very straight.
12:13You have the police under you.
12:14You know, the corporation is under you.
12:17It's very, very easy to implement in terms of,
12:20I mean, at least compared to Delhi.
12:21So we are really looking forward as a Delhiite.
12:23My, you know, wish for Mumbaikers is best of luck.
12:28We hope you're able to do something very quickly.
12:30We've struggled.
12:31We've struggled for over a decade
12:32and we're only about waking up to the problem,
12:35finding solutions now.
12:36We really hope Mumbai wakes up to the issue,
12:40smells the air now.
12:41And like you said, not be reactive,
12:42not be surprised that AQI has gone bad,
12:44but make preemptive efforts to ensure that it doesn't,
12:47at least do it for the kids.
12:49Because this is a leveler.
12:50Air pollution is a leveler.
12:51The netas are, you know, breathing in the same air.
12:54Their kids are also breathing in the same air.
12:56We really, really hope they do something about it.
12:58Thank you so much, Meghna, for joining in.
13:00And we really hope that Mr. Munde also listens in
13:05and chimes in on this matter.
13:07It will be interesting to know his views.
13:09Absolutely.
13:10Thank you so much for having me.
13:11And let's wish all of us all the best.