00:00All right, let's switch tracks to what's happening in the metros now.
00:05Delhi. Delhi is finally breathing a sigh of relief.
00:09Spring is in the bloom. You can finally step out, go for a run,
00:12and not feel like you're sort of inhaling a chemical experiment altogether.
00:16But while Delhi breathes a sigh of relief, Mumbai is gasping.
00:23Over the weekend, social media was buzzing with blurry skylines, hazy sunsets,
00:28people asking, is this really the city of sea breeze?
00:33AQI in parts of Delhi has been touching 250, 300.
00:36Imagine, this is Mumbai, not Delhi.
00:41That is not a vibe. That is very, very poor air.
00:46The reasons are not mysterious. We all know that by now.
00:49Construction at full throttle, metro, coastal road, redevelopment everywhere.
00:54There is dust rising. There is traffic. There is wind. Slower than usual.
01:01Also, remember, for years, Mumbai relied on the one big advantage it has,
01:06the Arabian Sea, that would sweep the pollution away.
01:10They don't have the inversion that is caused in Delhi, the basin that Delhi is.
01:14That's not the case. But in Mumbai, something shifted just in the last six months.
01:21And as they undergo their winter, there is a shift.
01:25Mumbai always said that at least we are not Delhi.
01:28That comfort now seems to be fading.
01:31Because Mumbai does not announce itself dramatically.
01:33It sort of settles in, right?
01:36And until one day you look up and that's the picture on your screen.
01:41The city of dreams looks hazy, looks covered completely in very, very bad air, and looks tired.
01:52There is no solution that we've heard of just yet.
01:54But let's try and understand what an average Mumbaiker, or perhaps what any Mumbaiker feels at this point.
02:01Remember, there have been political reactions to this as well.
02:04But at the moment, we haven't heard very clearly in terms of what's the plan ahead, which is the case
02:12for all over the country, right?
02:13We still do not have a roadmap to finding the solution for pollution.
02:19But let's take a break from what's happening at the moment and go to somebody who's spent his entire lifetime
02:26in Mumbai.
02:29Dalib Tahil, actor and singer, here joins us on the program.
02:33Thank you so much, sir.
02:34And I see you there.
02:35Oh, wow.
02:36I see you with a mask on and you've got a, you know, wearable air purifier as well.
02:43Hard to say that this is a Mumbaiker and not a Dilliwala.
02:48Very, very hard to say that I'm talking to a Mumbaiwala and not a Dilliwala at the moment.
02:55Are you facing particular troubles at the moment?
02:58What's going on?
03:06Well, allow me to reveal myself.
03:10It is me.
03:11This is Dalib Tahil.
03:13And at the outset, let me thank you very much for calling me on your show.
03:18I absolutely, you know, the preamble you gave, what you spoke about is absolutely true.
03:25In fact, it has come to catastrophic levels in Mumbai.
03:29I promise you that I go around with this ionizer, which is, you know, it sort of clarifies and it
03:35removes all the pollutants around the area that you breathe.
03:38I carry a mask with me.
03:41So today when I came on to your show, it was deliberate that I put that on to tell you
03:45what the true situation in Mumbai is.
03:48Let me let me focus it down.
03:49I live in the suburbs, which is Khar West and Bandra.
03:53So in the one kilometer area from Khar to Bandra, there are about 250 properties that are being redeveloped, which
04:02means in practical purposes that I, like most Mumbaiers, we live in a dust bowl.
04:07And this is affecting the breathing for children, for everyone around.
04:13I mean, there's so many viral infections.
04:16People are suffering every second day that people down and falling ill.
04:21And you hear from them that I have a viral infection.
04:23I've had a couple of viral infections within the last three months.
04:26And it's got everything to do with pollution and the pollutants in the air because of the dust.
04:32If you go to your doctor, they give you nasal sprays and antihistamines to combat the dust.
04:41I mean, that is what is happening.
04:42You see that photograph of smog.
04:44That's absolutely true.
04:46I was traveling to Pune about a day back, a day and a half back.
04:51And that's exactly what it looked like on Thare Creek.
04:55So I'm telling you, this is a disaster that has already happened.
04:59I'm very sad to say this.
05:00I don't want to point fingers because I know that there's a lot of construction and the metro is being
05:06built.
05:06And there's a lot of all that happening.
05:08But there has got to be a solution and a very rapid solution.
05:13Because, yeah, the cameraman is sitting right next to me and he's coughing away.
05:17And he's sitting in my house.
05:18So this is, it's all over the city.
05:21It's a disaster.
05:23Yeah.
05:24Talib, thank you.
05:25I just want to say thank you for sharing your views with us.
05:29Thank you for making that point with the mask over there.
05:31And thank you for firstly spreading the awareness.
05:34I don't think a lot of people who even care about pollution wear masks.
05:38So I'm very glad that you are actually one of those who actually wears that mask and is doing something
05:43in their capacity to do it, you know, to prevent yourself.
05:46But I've been talking to doctors all over the country and they tell me this, that please do not be
05:52fooled by the fact that air pollution is a Delhi problem.
05:56Please do not be fooled by the fact that Delhi pollution is, or in fact, pollution on the whole is
06:03a North India problem.
06:04It is a pan-India problem.
06:06It's a 60% of the country problem.
06:08And what you're telling me actually proves that exactly to what doctors are also saying.
06:17Dalib?
06:22Yeah?
06:24Mr. Tahil, can you hear me?
06:26Yeah, am I still?
06:28Yeah, I can hear you.
06:30Yes, please.
06:30So you're absolutely right.
06:33You know, Mumbaiers for the longest of time lived under this bubble and this false sense of complacency that, oh,
06:42we have the sea breeze and, you know, our pollution is cleaned by the sea breeze and all.
06:47That's all come to a big fat zero.
06:49Allow me to tell you that all your indexes are right.
06:52And like I said, I mean, it's a chronic situation in Bombay, not just where I live, but absolutely all
06:59over the city.
07:01There are viral infections, there are children being infected, the playgrounds, you can't breathe.
07:06I mean, to cut a long story short, you cannot breathe clean air in Bombay City anymore or its suburbs.
07:15I mean, you need one of these.
07:17This is an ionizer that I've bought.
07:19See it?
07:19It comes on.
07:20It's got a purple light.
07:22And I have to wear it around my neck so it clears all the pollutants in the near area of
07:28my face and nose.
07:29Big debate of how much?
07:29It is not a gadget everybody can afford because it has to be.
07:38Yeah.
07:39Mr. Tai, let me ask you this.
07:41It's just out of the reach.
07:44Yeah.
07:44Let me ask you this.
07:45I have been talking about the issue of pollution for the past one year now.
07:49In fact, more than that, for the past one year, more aggressively so.
07:54And we constantly talk to citizens.
07:55And what I have figured out is that because pollution is not a one person's problem, it becomes no person's
08:03problem.
08:03For example, there are various reasons.
08:06There is construction, there is vehicular pollution, there is industry, there is this and that.
08:10There are so many industries and stakeholders involved that nobody is taking the first step to finding any solution at
08:17all.
08:18For people like you, who do you think should take the lead and find out the problem, get a fix
08:25on the solution?
08:26Who do you think should take the lead on this?
08:33Well, you know, this is a, it's a social problem, which makes it a, you know, it makes it a
08:40political concern.
08:42Most definitely, the government of Maharashtra has to address this on a war footing.
08:47These are the people in Maharashtra.
08:49This is your public.
08:50These are the people who you're supposed to protect.
08:54Absolutely, the blame lies squarely on the government that is supposed to solve these issues.
09:00That even if you are constructing, you have to do it in a manner in which you understand that the
09:05pollution levels will be of a certain thing.
09:08Also, it is up to, I always believe that it's not only the government's responsibility.
09:13It's also up to, responsible to each responsibility of each citizen to take precautions.
09:19But what can you do as a citizen?
09:22I mean, you know, every day I see advertisements.
09:25There are hundreds of cars coming onto the street, new cars coming onto the street.
09:30There's no place to park in Bombay.
09:33If you have a little bit of money in your pocket, I have to hire a driver just to park
09:38my car in Bombay.
09:40Forget it.
09:41There's no parking.
09:43There are hundreds of cars.
09:44There are cars lying around.
09:46It's a complete mess.
09:48And if you ask me who's responsible, well, if it has to come to one single person, it's got to
09:54be the government of the state.
09:56Who else is going to take responsibility?
09:58You are the person who we pay the taxes to.
10:00You are the people we rely on to have a quality of life.
10:05And if you can't provide it, they're sadly lacking.
10:08I mean, I'm sorry.
10:09I know that all this construction should have come 30 years ago.
10:12It's all 35 years late in Mumbai.
10:16I've grown up in Mumbai.
10:18This has all happened under my nose.
10:19So, I know that all these metros and things should have come 25 years ago.
10:24But having said that, the problem is that at the moment, you know, there just seems to be no relief.
10:30I mean, I don't know what to say.
10:32You know, it's just a terrible situation.
10:36Mr. Tahil, you're not alone.
10:37You echo the voice of every person in Mumbai.
10:43You echo the voice of Delhiites like us who have been screaming and, you know, wanting to, you know, address
10:50this issue of pollution for so, so long.
10:52But thank you so much for bringing your voice forward.
10:57And thank you for, you know, voicing your opinion as well on air pollution.
11:06Thank you for giving me this opportunity and allowing me to express my views as a Mumbaiker.
11:11I truly appreciate it.
11:14Thank you, sir.
Comments