Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has taken the lead in reducing pollution in Mumbai. The MPCB has offered to demarcate car free days in order to reduce pollution. In what may be the first such exercise in the county the Carter Road in Mumbai was declared as a car free zone. The Carter Road in Bandra is a very busy suburb and is always buzzing with cars. The exercise has lead to some very encouraging results.

“It is an idea worth taking up across the city at least once a month since pollution levels have gone up alarmingly,|” MPCB member secretary Mahesh Pathak said. The good work is being done in conjunction with the Awaaz Foundation, an NGO.

Recently Mumbai had shown a very sharp rise in pollution. The MPCB had concluded that SPM was at an all time high. Levels of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and respirable suspended particulate matter had increased by 36, 13 and 11 percent. The efforts of last twenty years have yielded no results. It is only by such measures that pollution can be kept under control.