Mumbai: Mumbai woke up on Thursday to a winter chill, greeted by clear blue skies, light winds and a crisp coolness in the air. For many residents, the morning brought a refreshing break from the city’s usually warm and humid conditions. However, beneath the pleasant weather lingered a thin layer of haze, reflecting an ongoing environmental challenge that continues to plague the city, its steadily worsening air quality.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Thursday was expected to remain pleasant throughout the day, with temperatures ranging between a minimum of around 15°C and a maximum of 32°C. While these conditions offered comfort, the city’s air quality told a different story. Mumbai’s Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 144 early morning, as recorded by AQI.in, placing it firmly in the ‘poor’ category.

This level, though slightly better than last month’s alarming figures, is still unhealthy, especially for sensitive groups. Massive government-led projects such as metro lines, bridges, coastal road stretches and large-scale road widening, coupled with a surge in private construction, continue to throw up dust and fine particulate matter into the air.

Several pockets across the city emerged as major pollution hotspots. The Wadala Truck Terminal registered a shockingly high AQI of 368, categorised as ‘severe’, indicating dangerously polluted air that can pose serious health risks even to healthy individuals.

In Deonar and Bandra, AQI levels stood at 197 and 187, respectively, both marked as ‘poor’. Other areas, including Worli (180) and Chembur (177), also recorded air quality in the poor range, reflecting how both commercial hubs and residential areas remain heavily affected.

Suburban pockets showed comparatively cleaner air, though still not ideal. Govandi (63), Kandivali East (67) and Charkop (85) fell under the ‘moderate’ category, indicating that while the air is acceptable, pollution levels remain evident. Powai (123) and Juhu (127) also landed in the moderate bracket.

For reference, AQI values between 0–50 are Good, 51–100 Moderate, 101–150 Poor, 151–200 Unhealthy, and above 200 Hazardous.

The Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, a right wing organisation, on Wednesday urged the Maharashtra government to introduce a stringent law against what it describes as love jihad during the winter session of the state legislature in Nagpur. The term is used by right wing groups to allege that Muslim men target Hindu women for marriage with the intent of religious conversion.

The call comes after a coordinated campaign across the state that saw the involvement of more than 160 Hindu organisations from 20 districts. The Samiti stated that the participants pressed the government to pass a strict law to curb alleged forced conversions linked to marriage.

Sunil Ghanvat, the Samiti’s state organiser for Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, said in a statement that more than 1,600 activists and citizens took part in rallies, public meetings and memorandum drives across major districts. These included Mumbai, Jalgaon, Dhule, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalna, Ahilyanagar, Akola, Amravati, Chandrapur, Nagpur, Satara, Pune, Solapur, Nashik, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg.

Memorandums were submitted to district collectors, taluka administrations, elected representatives, the Governor, the Chief Minister and the home department, urging the state to act.

The Samiti noted that states such as Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Uttarakhand have already enacted laws aimed at curbing forced conversions. It argued that Maharashtra should introduce similar legislation with provisions for life imprisonment and registration of non-bailable offences.

Alongside the push for a love jihad law, the organisations also raised the demand for an anti land grabbing law, stating that such measures would strengthen legal safeguards in the state.

Mumbai, Dec 10: The Mumbai Airport Customs in 15 cases over the past eight days have seized smuggled drugs worth ₹43 crore, gold worth ₹1.51 crore and diamonds valued at ₹87 lakh.

According to the Customs, during December 03 till December 10 they detected ten cases of smuggling of hydroponic weed.

“Based on spot profiling, a total of 37.26 kg of suspected hydroponic weed valued at approximately ₹37.26 crore in the illicit market were recovered under seven cases from nine passengers who had arrived from Bangkok via various flights and were arrested under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act,” said a Customs officer.

“The modus operandi used by the accused in these cases were that the passengers attempted to smuggle hydroponic weed by concealing the contraband inside the trolley bags and using the baggage tags of another flight to avoid detection by Customs Officers. In some cases, the passengers attempted to smuggle hydroponic weed by concealing the contraband inside the lumps of tamarind to avoid detection,” the officer said.

In three other cases, based on specific intelligence, a total of 6 kg of suspected hydroponic weed, valued at approximately ₹6 crore in the illicit market were recovered from three passengers who had arrived from Bangkok via various flights and were arrested under the provisions of the NDPS Act.

“Other than the NDPS cases, four gold smuggling cases were booked in which a total of 1,256 grams of gold valued at ₹1.51 crore were recovered and seized from four passengers. In one case, diamonds valued at ₹87.75 lakh were recovered and seized from one passenger,” the officer said.