Amid growing worries over deteriorating air quality in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has taken action against bakeries that continue to use polluting fuels. Since January 15, the civic body has served stop-work notices to 102 bakeries that have not yet transitioned to cleaner fuel sources.
The action follows directions issued by the Bombay High Court in January last year, which instructed the BMC to ensure that all eateries operating conventional ovens move away from traditional fuels and adopt environmentally safer alternatives.
According to BMC data, Mumbai has 354 authorised bakeries that previously relied on conventional fuels such as firewood. Of these, 49 per cent—around 175 bakeries—have already shifted to cleaner fuels like piped natural gas (PNG). Meanwhile, 69 bakeries are currently in the process of converting their fuel systems, and eight establishments have shut down operations.
“Starting January 15, we have issued stop-work notices to 102 bakeries that continue to operate on conventional fuels like wood that contribute to pollution. Once their conversion process is completed, the BMC will carry out an inspection, following which they will be issued clearances for resuming daily operations,” an official told The Indian Express.
In 2023, the BMC introduced the Mumbai Air Pollution Mitigation Plan, which identified smoke and emissions from bakeries and eateries as a notable contributor to pollution levels in the city. Civic data indicates that bakeries currently account for about 6 per cent of Mumbai’s overall air pollution.
“Even though 6 per cent may not be a very high number, it should be noted that almost all these bakeries are located in densely populated areas like Byculla, Mazgaon, Malad, and Santacruz, among others. Therefore, their contribution to pollution is actually very hazardous,” said a civic official.
A 2024 survey conducted by the Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG) revealed that 47 per cent of the 216 bakeries surveyed in Mumbai still used carbon-intensive fuels such as firewood and scrap, contributing significantly to PM 2.5 emissions—fine particulate matter that poses serious health risks.
The report also highlighted a surge in the number of bakeries opened in the island city between 2017 and 2023.
“Our findings show that the average consumption of wood is around 130 kg per day, which leads to the emission of at least 80,381 kg of PM 2.5 annually from these 72 bakeries. The remaining 28 bakeries that run on wood don’t keep an inventory of fuel consumption. Therefore, their emission levels couldn’t be calculated,” Dr Tuhin Banerji, who was the project head for the survey and a former senior scientist at the CSIR’s National Environmental Engineering Research Institute in Nagpur, had told The Indian Express.
“80,000 kg of PM 2.5 accounts for smoking five billion cigarettes in a lifetime. An average human being doesn’t even consume these many cigarettes in a single lifetime,” he said.
Source: The Indian Express
