Mumbai smog surpassing Delhi an ‘emergency’, HC asks how officials can sleep

Expressing concern over Mumbai’s worsening air quality, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday said it was “shocking” that the city was surpassing Delhi in pollution levels, while pulling up civic, pollution control and police authorities over the lack of enforcement of orders to curb noise and air pollution during festivities.

Questioning how officials responsible for implementing the measures could have a “peaceful sleep” despite an “emergency situation” in which lakhs of people were suffering the ill-effects of pollution, the court warned that officers could be held accountable for dereliction of duty.

The court observed that the police machinery was “extremely slow” in implementing its orders, including those mandating the display of licences for sound systems used during processions and a complete ban on bursting firecrackers on public streets during festivities.

The HC cited an incident on Tuesday in south Mumbai, where firecrackers were burst on busy streets in front of a police station near Crawford Market, describing it as a “rampant breach” of court orders. It warned that inaction by errant officers amounted to a violation of citizens’ rights under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, warranting penalties and prosecution.

Hearing a suo motu PIL on noise pollution and the bursting of firecrackers on streets during festivities, a bench of Justices Girish S Kulkarni and Neela K Gokhale directed the Mumbai Police Commissioner to convene a meeting with police station in-charges to ensure the “meticulous implementation” of court orders.

The court also directed the commissioners of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) to remain present at the next hearing on October 26 and make presentations on the steps taken to implement the orders. These include public notices and awareness campaigns through news and social media, involving celebrities, to highlight the noise and toxic effects of firecrackers.

When informed that Mumbai was the second-most polluted city in the country at the time, Justice Kulkarni orally remarked, “This is shocking. The city has a sea breeze coming, which has a lot of open spaces, the whole openness of the sea, still we are facing this… You (authorities) should see to it that Mumbai skies are clear.”

Story continues below this ad

“It appears the Corporation is not doing anything about construction sites to control developers and their activities of construction. They have to recover fines. People are suffering and cannot move out, morning walks are impossible… The smog is very bad and we do not know where we are heading,” the judge added.

Justice Gokhale cited news reports and observed that officials could point to AQI readings from the cleanest parts of Mumbai to claim that pollution levels had fallen, while ignoring air quality near traffic signals and slum areas.

“We don’t know whether they (civic and police officers) are also breathing the same air that we are breathing, or if they have some different air that they are not alive to,” the judge remarked.

Observing that Mumbai was “surpassing Delhi” in pollution levels, Justice Kulkarni said, “We don’t understand how those who are supposed to implement this can even have a peaceful sleep, because this is an emergency on their part. For their respective departments, this is an emergency situation with lakhs of people facing it.”

Story continues below this ad

Expressing concern over visibility falling below 500 metres on Tuesday, Justice Kulkarni questioned the lack of action. “If this is the state of affairs, who is bothered? Added to this is toxicity from firecrackers. There might be pleasure for 15-20 minutes (in bursting crackers), but ultimately there will be more toxicity in the air and you do not know which part of the body the deposits (pollutants) settle down. You cannot depend on nature, you have to change human habits… We don’t want Mumbaikars to have a situation to see AQI levels first and then step out.”