Tiny, deadly particles in Mumbai’s air from vehicular movement have nearly doubled over the past five years, making it the biggest contributor to the city’s already . A 2019-20 source estimation analysis for PM2.5 pollutants recently done by System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), under Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) Pune, revealed that the share of PM2.5 emissions coming from the transport sector is 30.5% in 2019-20, compared to 16% it was in 2016-17. Air has suspended particulate matter (PM) of different sizes.
Many are a complex mixture of dust, pollen, soot and smoke, and are hazardous. Of this, PM 2.5 is the smaller kind, with a diameter not more than 2.5 micrometers (fine particles).