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Journalism of Courage
Studies have shown that road dust is one of the major contributors to air pollution in Mumbai and has doubled over the past decade. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to deploy five types of special vehicles on Mumbai’s roads, including e-powered sweepers and vehicles mounted with misting equipment and sprinklers to bring down the amount of road dust and thus improve the metropolitan city’s air quality. A few measures were proposed in the civic body’s budget 2023-24 presented on February 4.
Five measures proposed by BMC
1) Mechanical/ e-powered sweepers to settle the dust on roads
2) Sprinklers to settle the dust on roads and footpaths
3) Vehicle-mounted misting equipment
4) Vehicle-mounted air-purification units
5) Ionisation-based air purification system for dust settlement
What is road dust?
*Road dust refers to solid particles generated during the handling and processing of road construction materials such as gravel and concrete.
*It is also generated from turbulence due to passing traffic, particularly in areas with high traffic volume where road surface erosion and tyre wear and tear is high. This leads to re-suspension of fugitive particles, which become airborne.
According to BMC, the contribution of road dust to the air pollution in Mumbai has more than doubled in the past decade.
Other measures
To reduce pollution on roads due to particulate matter, the BMC has also proposed:
*All vehicles at the construction sites will have to wash their tyres before leaving the site
*All vehicles transporting debris of construction material will have to cover the material properly.
BMC has allotted Rs 25 crore this fiscal to improve air quality in the city, including road dust reduction measures.
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