The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will install five additional Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS) across Mumbai at a cost of INR 17.5 crore to strengthen air quality monitoring and provide residents with real-time pollution data.
The new stations will continuously monitor key air pollutants, analyse air quality on an hourly basis and provide real-time Air Quality Index (AQI) updates. The project includes a three-year warranty and five years of maintenance.
Mumbai currently has 28 CAAQMS stations, 14 operated by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), nine by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), and five by the BMC. All of these are reference-grade monitoring stations that comply with Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) standards for calibration, quality assurance and data validation.
According to the BMC's Environment Department, the expanded monitoring network will help authorities track pollution levels more effectively, strengthen pollution control measures and support evidence-based policymaking for a cleaner and greener Mumbai.
The five new monitoring stations will be installed at C.D. Deshmukh Garden in Mulund (East), Pramod Mahajan Park in Worli, Aare Garden at Chhota Kashmir in Goregaon (East), Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Recreation Ground in Dahisar (East), and the BMC Assistant Commissioner's Office in Khar (West).
Besides monitoring air pollutants, the automated stations will also record key meteorological parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and wind direction.
Real-time pollution data and the AQI from each station will be available on the BMC portal, which will be linked to the CPCB server. The information will also be accessible through the CPCB's Sameer mobile application.