Mumbai, Nov 6 (IANS): The Maharashtra government has urged people in 17 major cities, including Mumbai, to avoid ordinary outdoor activities like morning-evening walks on days with poor air quality index (AQI), officials said.

The warning, issued in view of the unabated pollution levels in urban centres, has cautioned people against activities like walks, jogs, runs, physical exercises outdoors, opening windows during mornings or late evenings.

In case people suffer from pollution-related problems like breathlessness, cough, chest pains or discomforts, giddiness, irritation in eyes, etc, consult their physician, and have also recommended the use of N95 face-masks.

The state government has also directed all districts in the state to prepare action plans to combat air pollution in their regions.

Besides Mumbai, 16 major cities in the state, would have designated surveillance sites to monitor acute cases of respiratory or coronary conditions reported in emergency wards and align the data with daily AQI readings.

These statistics on air pollution related illnesses or deaths would be regularly reported and districts as well as municipal authorities will identify the hotspots in their jurisdictions based on the AQI levels vis-à-vis the local affected populations.

This is the government's first major initiative towards battling the ill-effects of poor air quality that has been reported in many parts of the state, particularly cities like Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Nashik, and others.