The source of the intense smell that thousands were affected by on the night of September 19 is still untraced, but a committee formed to study the incident, will suggest various measures to be taken in case something like it happens again. A meeting will be held today to discuss the measures, one of which is upgrading the Air Quality Index system, or providing hand held devices to the authorities to detect such non-toxic gases.

Committee comprises

Additional Municipal Commissioner Dr Ashwini Joshi held a meeting on September 22 to discuss more than a hundred complaints about the gas smell. During the meeting, a committee comprising representatives of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) Disaster Management Cell, Mumbai Fire Brigade, Mumbai Police, Rashtriya Chemical Fertilisers, Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health, Mahanagar Gas Ltd, BPCL and HPCL was formed. While the gas vanished within minutes, it wasn't detected in the AQI system. It was non-toxic as no one was admitted in hospitals due to nausea, vomiting or dizziness. The authorities, however, want to upgrade the system so they can tackle such a situation in future, and hence will meet to discuss measures for the same.