The state government issued a health advisory on Sunday, cautioning individuals with pre-existing respiratory and cardiovascular conditions about the complications resulting from high pollution levels. Residents in dusty areas of Mumbai have already experienced these consequences.

For instance, Vaibhav Rege, a Shivaji Park resident, lost his 85-year-old father in March. Although his father’s death was attributed to diabetes, he had been diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) months earlier, and his health deteriorated during the highly polluted winter months the previous year.