Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray hit out at Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde for directing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to install air purifier towers across the city along the lines of those in Delhi, Gurugram and Lucknow in the wake of the poor Mumbai air quality.
I read in the newspapers that the illegal CM’s response to pollution is an order to @mybmc to put up “air purifier towers”. As a fmr environment minister who worked on pollution mitigation, I can vouch that these towers are an absolute a waste of public money, at large, Aaditya tweeted.
What govt must focus on, rather than air purifier towers, is to actually identify sources of pollution and to organise them better, stagger their work and ensure they follow pollution control rules. This Govt is supported by these vested interests, therefore no guts to stop them, he tweeted.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board’s daily bulletin, Mumbai on Thursday reported an overall AQI of 180, in the moderate category. However, air quality monitoring stations operated by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) recorded the AQI in the very poor category at several locations. The worst AQI was reported from Mazgaon, at 494, in the severe category. While BKC recorded an AQI of 343, AQI in Mazgaon peaked around noon, as per IITM’s monitoring stations.