The Indian Constitution protects the right to a clean and healthy environment and imposes an obligation on the State to protect and improve the environment. That said, the air quality crisis across the country speaks for itself.  

Turning specifically to Mumbai, it’s trite and contextually relevant to reiterate that Mumbai is part of the  Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR); 6,300 sq. km of densely populated geographies extending across  Thane, Navi Mumbai, Raigad, Kalyan-Dombivli, Vasai-Virar, and adjoining areas. Industrial activity,  transport emissions, construction dust, peri-urban expansion, and coastal atmospheric circulation operate continuously across the MMR and the complexity of larger air circulation patterns is compounded by diurnal land and sea breezes. 

Estimates cited by IIT Bombay suggest that approximately half of Mumbai’s PM2.5 burden may originate beyond the city itself. Road dust, vehicular emissions, industrial activity, construction dust, and secondary aerosol formation remain the principal contributors.  

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) increasingly recognises the MMR as a single atmospheric system. Recent enforcement action against ready-mix concrete plants across Thane, Navi  Mumbai, and Kalyan reflects an operational understanding that pollution affecting Mumbai frequently originates outside municipal........

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