Bombay HC Rejects Claim That Ethiopia Volcano Caused Mumbai Pollution, Says AQI Crisis Pre-existing

Moneylife Digital Team 27 November 2025

Economy & Nation

The Bombay High Court (HC) on Thursday dismissed the state government’s suggestion that ash from Ethiopia’s recent volcanic eruption was responsible for Mumbai’s worsening air quality, observing that the city’s pollution problem has been evident for weeks. A bench of chief justice Shree Chandrashekhar and justice Gautam Ankhad was urged to prioritise long-pending public interest petitions filed in 2023, with senior advocates for the petitioners noting that Mumbai’s air quality index (AQI) has repeatedly crossed the 300 mark this month.

During the hearing, the government’s representative argued that the situation had deteriorated because ash from the Hayli Gubbi volcano, which erupted on Sunday in Ethiopia’s Afar region, had drifted towards India.

The bench rejected this explanation outright, remarking that visibility in Mumbai had already been severely reduced even before the eruption. The judges emphasised that the city’s smoggy conditions and declining air quality were evident well before ash clouds began moving across continents.

The Court also drew parallels with the severe pollution in Delhi and asked the state to identify concrete measures to address Mumbai’s deteriorating AQI, questioning what steps would be most effective in light of the capital’s ongoing struggle with hazardous pollution.

Meteorological agencies have reported that ash from the Ethiopian eruption rose to nearly 14km (kilometres) and travelled across the Red Sea towards the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent. However, experts say the plume remained in the upper atmosphere and had little influence on surface-level pollution in Indian cities.

Environmental scientists have repeatedly warned that Mumbai’s air quality decline is driven by local factors such as traffic emissions, construction dust, industrial pollution and stagnant winter winds—conditions that have persisted throughout November.

The High Court recorded the arguments and scheduled the matter for further hearing on Friday, signalling a renewed judicial focus on Mumbai’s long-running battle with poor air quality.

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