Government incentives have led to a spike in construction projects in the city. Residents are suffering from the resultant increase in pollution levels. https://scroll.in/article/1059083/how-a-construction-boom-led-to-toxic-air-in-mumbai
India’s financial capital is slowly gaining the image of one of the most polluted cities in the world: in February, based on air quality index, or AQI, Mumbai was ranked the second-most polluted city in the world. Other parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region also showed high pollution levels – Navi Mumbai, one of the nine municipal corporations under the metropolitan region, became the second-most polluted city in the country in October.
A major cause for this pollution is a construction boom that the city has been witnessing in recent years. This boom has been fueled by a series of financial incentives the government has given developers to encourage them to construct and redevelop slums and housing societies. The government has also amended coastal building regulations to allow development where it was earlier barred.
The result is a cloud of construction dust hanging over the city.
by Vaishnavi Rathore & Tabassum Barnagarwala
15/11/2023