Black rain seen in Navi Mumbai could be caused due to the fire in Butcher Island, say officials (PTI)
Residents of Navi Mumbai and Uran have been seeing black rain for the past two days. While this may be a shocking sight, as per the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board this may have some connection with the recent fire at Butcher Island.
As per a report by The Times of India, an official of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) who is based in Navi Mumbai, said, "Noting when the fire at Butcher Island began, and when Uran started getting black rain, it is safe to say that smoke coming out of the (burning diesel) may have caused coloured rain in Uran. There are no major industrial units in Uran
taluka. So, industrial emissions can't be held responsible. Of course, there is an ONGC power plant, but it is not coal-based and is eco-friendly."
On asking the IMD Colaba about black rain seen by citizens, the director of the IMD's Colaba weather observatory, Ajay Kumar, said, "The phenomenon of getting coloured rain occurs sometimes due to various factors. Coloured rainwater has been seen in Kerala. Our officials have not yet gone to Uran, where we don't have an observatory."
To understand the phenomenon, when Mumbai based environmentalist Debi Goenka was asked, he said, "Due to the absence of a strong sea breeze (towards Mumbai), most of the soot in the smoke from the island fire simply accumulated at a certain height towards Uran and Elephanta. When it rained in the evenings since Saturday, the soot came down with rainwater. It is fortunate that only one of the fuel tanks on the island caught fire. Otherwise it could have had worse environmental effects."
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