Pune, 3rd December 2025: Pune’s air has turned toxic over the past few days, with several locations such as Shivajinagar and the Savitribai Phule Pune University area recording ‘poor’ to ‘very poor’ air quality.
The alarming AQI levels have raised concerns among environmental experts, especially as these readings come on the eve of National Pollution Control Day.
Every year on December 2, India observes National Pollution Control Day in memory of the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy, an industrial disaster that claimed thousands of lives and exposed the severe consequences of unchecked pollution.
This year’s theme, “Sustainable Living for a Green Future,” highlights the growing need for environmentally responsible lifestyles. India now ranks among the world’s five most polluted countries, and cities across Maharashtra continue to record dangerous levels of PM 2.5 and PM 10 particles.
AQI readings across multiple monitoring stations in Pune have been consistently worrying. Experts warn that if this situation continues, cases of asthma, respiratory infections, heart disease, and lung-related illnesses will rise sharply. They link the worsening air to rapidly increasing traffic, dust from construction activities, widespread waste burning, and winter smog that traps pollutants close to the ground.
Pune’s environmental concerns extend beyond air pollution. The Mula-Mutha river continues to degrade as industrial wastewater, domestic sewage, plastics, and untreated effluents reduce oxygen levels in the water. This deterioration is leading to a rise in waterborne diseases in both urban and rural areas. When contacted, officials from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board did not respond.
Environmental specialists say the city urgently needs long-term and consistent solutions. Shweta Vernekar, Senior Project Associate at Parisar, explained that winter humidity combines with smoke particles to form smog, which traps pollution near the surface and rapidly worsens air quality.
She added that fewer “clean air days” have been recorded in the past few years, and immediate action is essential to protect public health.
“Pollution control is not only the government’s responsibility; every citizen shares this duty. Change must begin at home, with each of us. Reducing the use of chemical-based products in daily life and choosing environmentally friendly options is the need of the hour. Instead of waiting for a problem to occur and then fixing it, it is far more effective to take early preventive steps so the problem does not arise in the first place.”
Dr. Gurudas Nulkar, Sustainable Development Centre, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics
