Mumbai’s air quality improved during the afternoon on Sunday but deteriorated sharply in several suburbs after late-night celebrations, with particulate matter readings crossing 600 on private monitoring scales and local monitoring stations recording extreme PM2.5 and PM10 spikes.
The city recorded an overall air quality index of 132 at 4pm, placing it in the moderately polluted category and marking a 29.8% improvement from the AQI of 188 recorded at the same time during Diwali and Lakshmi Puja last year, according to data reported by the Times of India. The improvement was not sustained into the night.
In Andheri, PM2.5 stood at 42 at 8pm before rising to 483 two hours later. Chembur recorded a PM10 level of 480 at 10pm, while Deonar and Malad recorded PM10 levels of 444 and 408, respectively. The readings indicate that pollution was not distributed evenly across the city, with particularly severe conditions emerging in specific suburban pockets.
Byculla also recorded a rapid increase. PM10 levels remained at 80 until 9pm before rising nearly five-fold to 395 an hour later. Bandra East, BKC, Shivaji Nagar in Govandi, Borivli and Andheri crossed 400 during localised spikes involving PM2.5 and PM10 pollution, according to the monitoring data cited in the report.
Readings from private air-quality platforms showed similarly high levels in several locations. IQAir reported PM2.5 concentrations of 237 at Bandra Hill Road, 215 at Juhu and 165 at the US Consulate in BKC. AQI.in recorded readings of 597 in Andheri East, 606 in Malad, 654 in Jogeshwari, 595 in Mulund and 415 in Dadar.
The measurements use different reporting systems and are not directly interchangeable with the citywide AQI figure. However, the sharp changes recorded over short periods point to intense, hyperlocal pollution conditions that were not fully reflected in the afternoon citywide average.
PM2.5 particles are small enough to penetrate deep into the lung passageways, while PM10 exposure can affect respiratory and cardiovascular health. The reported nighttime increases therefore created uneven exposure conditions for residents, with the most affected areas experiencing substantially higher particulate concentrations than the citywide afternoon figure suggested.
Environmental analysts cited in the report said the localised nighttime pollution booms highlighted the limits of relying only on aggregate citywide averages during festival celebrations. The available readings show that Mumbai’s overall air-quality improvement during the afternoon coexisted with severe pollution episodes in individual neighbourhoods later in the day.
