Mumbai Air Pollution: Bombay HC Rejects State’s Claim, Says AQI Was Poor Before Eruption

The Bombay High Court on Thursday criticized the state officials for attributing the air pollution in the city to the Ethiopia volcanic ash. The court noted that the air quality index had been poor long before the eruption. During a hearing on petitions regarding rising air pollution, the bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad rejected the state’s claim related to the volcano. Senior counsel Darius Khambata, appointed as amicus curiae, informed the court that the AQI in Mumbai had been consistently above 300 this month. However, Additional government pleader Jyoti Chavan argued that the recent spike in pollution was due to the volcanic eruption in Ethiopia a couple of days ago.