The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will undertake a special “Road Cleaning and Dust Control Drive” across the city from Friday to Sunday as part of its efforts to curb air pollution in the city and its suburbs.
According to the Mumbai civic body, junior supervisors from the solid waste management (SWM) department have been directed to ensure intensive cleaning on the roads adopted by them under the ward-level monitoring system. The directive was issued by Additional Municipal Commissioner (City) Dr Ashwini Joshi.
The initiative is being implemented under the guidance of Municipal Commissioner and Administrator Bhushan Gagrani. Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Environment and Climate Change) Avinash Kate is supervising the broader pollution-control measures, while the road-cleaning campaign is being conducted under the watch of Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Solid Waste Management) Kiran Dighavkar.
During the three-day drive, the SWM department has been directed to carry out deep cleaning using water tankers, misting machines, mechanical sweeping equipment and other dust-suppression machinery. BMC said priority will be given to areas recording higher air quality index (AQI) levels, including Borivali East, Malad West, Chakala–Andheri East, Deonar, Mazagaon, Navy Nagar–Colaba, Mulund West, and Powai.
Executive engineers from the SWM department at the ward level have been asked to closely monitor the operation and ensure strict implementation of the pollution-control measures.
About 40 per cent of the worst AQI days recorded in Mumbai in 2023 and 2024 were during the winter months of December, January, and February, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) analysed by mid-day.com.
In 2023, Mumbai recorded 145 days in the ‘moderate’ AQI category and 35 days in the ‘poor’ category, totalling 180 days of bad air. Of these, 45 days were in winter — 40.55 per cent of the total. Similarly, in 2024, the city saw 145 ‘moderate’ days and two ‘poor’ AQI days, with 70 of those days falling in winter — 39.45 per cent of the total.
