As Mumbai is hosting the G20 meet from December 13 to 16, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday issued a set of guidelines to mitigate dust levels in the wake of the poor air quality in the city in the past few days. As part of the steps taken by the civic body to bring down the pollution, it has directed all assistant municipal commissioners of 24 municipal wards to halt all construction and waste disposal works for the next 10 days.

The ward officers have been asked to clean dust from the roads regularly on a war footing, Indian Express reported.

Apart from this, the BMC will spray water on roads in areas where air pollution levels are high. Local people have said they have seen the municipal corporation washing the roads in areas such as Bandra, The Times of India reported.

On Monday, December 11, Mumbai’s Air-Quality Index (AQI) showed 225 in the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) dashboard, which is considered ‘poor’. This was higher than Delhi’s score of 152 which is in the ‘moderate’ category.

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Areas such as Malad, Mazagaon, Chembur and Andheri all recorded AQI above 300 on Monday. Others like BKC had an AQI of 269, Colaba had 173, Bhandup was 125, Borivli saw an AQI of 111, and Worli was 101.

AQI is a measure of the concentration of carcinogenic particulate matter (PM 2.5) in the air. When AQI levels for PM2.5 is below the 50 threshold, it is considered 'good'. A reading between 50 and 99 is considered to be 'satisfactory', while that between 100 and 199, it moderate'. However, an AQI reading above 200 is considered 'poor', while those above 300 is set as 'very poor'. Anything above 400 is considered to be 'severe'.

Meanwhile, BMC has also put up white curtains and barricades outside the slums along the Western Express Highway as it welcomes foreign delegates for the G20 meetings. The delegates are expected to visit the Kanheri caves inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park during their tour of Mumbai and the entire stretch of Western Express Highway has been renovated, Hindustan Times reported.

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The move is part of the beautification drive for the international summit. The civic body has also barricaded the Mithi river near Bandra Kurla Complex and Sion Bandra road junction to ensure that the stretch of the river which is dirty is not visible to those travelling by road.

(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)