Mumbai: While the Mumbai Metropolitan Region is undergoing a major infrastructure upgrade with new Metro lines, expressways, flyovers, ring routes and tunnels, its Mumbai’s satellite city Thane that is facing the brunt of all this activity.
Thane, the home turf of Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde, will also benefit from the upgrade, but for now, all the construction has driven up the city’s pollution to a consistent “poor” level, often worse than Mumbai.
iForest, an environment research thinktank, held a study and a panel discussion to emphasise the need for a sustainable environmental plan to battle the worsening air quality.
Thane has been run by the undivided Shiv Sena since 1990s and for the last three years, has been under state government administration.
At the webinar, attended by representatives from the Thane Municipal Corporation, the Maharashtra pollution control board, NGOs and citizens’ movements, the panelists discussed ways to counter the pollution.
For Thane, the focus on pollution is good news, since usually, the concerns are limited to places like Mumbai and Pune. Even when framing policies, the state has usually overlooked Thane. But currently, big ticket projects like Thane metro, freeway extension from Ghatkopar till Thane, twin tunnel between Borivali and Thane apart from redevelopment of various old buildings are underway.
“The Mumbai region is being positioned as a major infrastructure and economic growth hub, with GDP expected to rise sharply by 2047. Thane is at the centre of this surge, with major upcoming projects—a new port, a ring road, 76 km of tunnels, and expanded metro connectivity,” said Sree Kumar, programme director, Clean Air Action, WRI India.
“Such rapid growth must be matched by strong environmental management, and Thane must take ambitious steps to safeguard its air quality and reduce vehicular emissions across Thane and neighbouring regions,” he added.
However, Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) chief environment officer, Manisha Pradhan disagrees. She says the city follows a Clean Air Action Plan certified by the Pollution Control Board.
“Environmental assessments show that vehicles are the major source of pollution, driving investments in public transport. Construction activity and vehicular emissions remain the dominant contributors to Thane’s air pollution. A city-level coordination committee is mandatory, ensuring all departments work together on clean air actions,” she said.
Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) Thane field officer Aniruddh Varale appreciated TMC’s efforts. TMC enforces strict dust-mitigation norms, including box-type enclosures at construction sites, he said.
What are the causes and solutions
iForest calculated pollutants at two stations, Kasarvadavali and Upvan fort.
According the findings of iForest, both Upvan fort and Kasarvadavali stations saw a decrease in sulphur levels (30 percent and 21 percent, respectively); however, there was an increase in nitrogen levels (33 percent and 73 percent, respectively).
In Kasarvadavali, the annual PM 2.5 level for 2024 exceeded the CPCB limit 1.1 times, and was found to be 1.6 times above the CPCB standard. In Upvan Fort, the annual PM 2.5 concentration for 2024 was within the CPCB limit, while it was about 1.3 times higher than the standard.
The average winter concentration is around 1.6 times and 2.22 times higher than the CPCB annual standards for PM 2.5 and PM10 respectively.
This is an increase of 11 percent in 2024 over 2023 in Kasarvadavali, whereas in Upvan fort area, the increase is of 22 percent in the same time frame, the findings note.
Currently there are 3 manual and 2 CAAQMS monitoring stations in Thane. However, as per CPCB standards, Thane requires 8 stations—5CAAQMS and 3 manual, iForest said.
Pradhan revealed that the corporation’s focus is also on electric buses.
“We have observed that in a city with a 29 lakh population, vehicle population stands at 15-16 lakh. That is a lot. And if we have to decrease this, then public transport needs to be improved and for that we are focusing on e-buses,” Pradhan said.
“80 percent of the city’s clean-air budget goes to EV buses, and 20 percent to other measures like crematorium upgrades,” she added.
Thane has 123 e-buses already on the road with strong public uptake, and it the government is planning to procure 303 buses.
According to Pradhan, 30 crematoriums have been converted from firewood to gas, significantly reducing emission. The city is working with bakeries to shift from wood-fired ovens to clean cooking gas, in coordination with Bakery Associations, FDA and ASAR, Pradhan informed.
Varale appreciated the efforts of the Thane municipal corporation and said that certain measures like installing online dust monitoring systems at construction sites, fully enclosing the construction site are some of the measures that need to be taken.
“Units that violate compliance norms are strictly penalised. This strict approach toward defaulters is essential to improve air quality,” Varale said.
WRI’s Kumar agreed that to mitigate air pollution, technical planning, infrastructure expansion and citizens’ awareness was a must.
“Thane’s experience—where 60 percent bakeries have begun transitioning away from firewood—offers transition lessons to emulate. Financial support from TMC and MPCB can accelerate Thane’s own transition. A strong public transport system will ensure that every resident can access electric buses or metro stations within 5 minutes from any destination,” Kumar said.
The panel discussion was also joined by Chinu Kwatra, founder, Kushiyan foundation, an NGO. While he agreed that the TMC was working towards it, he pointed out that waste burning and management was still an area of concern.
“The goal is to build collaborative systems—connecting youth, waste workers, industry, and TMC—to tackle plastic pollution and support climate action across the city,” Kwatra said.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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