On Friday, for the second day in a row, residents across Mumbai woke up to unusually thick smog in the air. The source of the smoke that seems to have engulfed most of the city is a massive fire that broke out at the Deonar garbage dumping ground in north-east Mumbai early on Thursday morning.
As of Friday morning, fire-fighters had still not been able to entirely contain the flames that have been choking the air with toxic gases. Citizens, meanwhile, took to social media with the hashtag #MumbaiSmokeCloud, posting scores of photographs of the unprecedented smog cover across the city.
View from my house, bad smog for the second day running, can smell the smoke, what's happening #Mumbai #mumbaismog pic.twitter.com/VKi9hlulKB
— Abhiijt Raja (@abhijitraja) January 29, 2016
Deonar. Windows closed. Tyke is having breathing issues #smog #MumbaiSmokeCloud pic.twitter.com/Aeso7d1m56
— Irshad Daftari (@daftari) January 29, 2016
@PrakashJavdekar Sir surrounded by burning fog in Chembur due to fire in Deonar garbage dumping grd, request help pic.twitter.com/Dews1lngLo
— Bekxy Kuriakose (@bekxyk) January 29, 2016
@kanwarsation freeway gives a clear view of the #MumbaiSmokeCloud pic.twitter.com/5JZbrNOxpb
— Moksh Juneja (@mokshjuneja) January 29, 2016
Just how severely dense was the smog cover over the city? Twitter had enough before-after pictures to serve as show-and-tell:
@kanwarsation pre #mumbaismokecloud on normal day and post #mumbaismokecloud yest morn...better today though pic.twitter.com/HT4NaVArxw
— sucharita choudhury (@sucharitachoudh) January 29, 2016
Regular smoggy day vs today. Spot the difference? #NotSmog #MumbaiSmokeCloud (idea h/t @sucharitachoud) pic.twitter.com/4Ixqfk8o30
— Saurabh Kanwar (@kanwarsation) January 29, 2016
Terrible Mumbai smog today with zero visibility. See pics of same view on a clear day vs today am. #Mahalaxmi #Smog pic.twitter.com/6T6MPPdjtV
— Vikram Chachra (@lemonandice) January 28, 2016
While the smoke and pollution were the worst in Chembur, Wadala and other suburbs close to the Deonar dumping ground, residents of south Mumbai were baffled to see that they were affected too:
#MumbaiSmokeCloud pic.twitter.com/Ecji0vqpzd
— Kirannare (@KirannarePT) January 29, 2016
Very heavy smog in #Mumbai today. Scary #pollution levels. This is Lower Parel at 10:15 am pic.twitter.com/A8qu9Qx6yO
— Vishakh Rathi (@vishakhrathi) January 28, 2016
Those closer to Deonar, however, want the civic authorities and the state government to find a lasting solution to the problem of repeated fires at Mumbai’s dumping grounds:
Deonar dumping ground fires an annual affair. Have noticed 3 times running now. Request @Dev_Fadnavis to put stop to this #MumbaiSmokeCloud
— Raj Kalur, CFA CFP (@rajkalur) January 29, 2016
@ibnlive Dense smog from Municipal garbage dump envepes Chembur and North east Mumbai.Getting worse by the minute.CM treat this as a crisis
— RAVINDRA GOPAL (@VENTURECAP) January 29, 2016