Ozone Pollution Spikes in Pune and Mumbai, Prompting Calls for Action

As of September 29th, 2025, new data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has revealed that Maharashtra's two major cities, Pune and Mumbai, are emerging as hotspots for ozone pollution. The findings, submitted to the National Green Tribunal last month, show that ozone levels in these cities are frequently exceeding safe limits, posing a growing threat to public health.

While Delhi has long been considered the national hotspot for ozone pollution, the CPCB's latest analysis clearly places Pune and Mumbai among the country's most affected urban centers. In the Pune Metropolitan Region, six out of 12 monitoring stations reported exceedances, while in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, 22 out of 45 stations recorded eight-hourly ozone level breaches.

Sachin Ghude, head of the Metropolitan Air Quality and Weather Forecasting Services at the Indian Institute of Technology and Management, emphasizes the urgency of the situation. "The ozone levels do exceed on certain days, mainly due to chemical reactions, and there is an urgent need for policies to control this exceedance," he said.

The CPCB's report explains that tropospheric or ground-level ozone is formed primarily from complex photochemical reactions between volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides, which are emitted by the transport sector, power plants, and industrial activities. With Maharashtra's cities grappling with this growing challenge, policymakers and civic authorities will need to take immediate action to address the rising ozone pollution and safeguard the health of their residents.