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Delhi to get three new air-monitoring stations

NEW DELHI: Listed among the greenest Capitals of the world, Delhi will also soon become the most monitored city with the Central Pollution Control Board now in the final leg of its preparations to give it three more continuous air-monitoring stations.

To be set up at the cost of Rs. 80 lakh each, this latest endeavour will enable the CPCB to generate a more comprehensive all-Delhi continuous air-quality data that will be updated on the official website every 15 minutes, allowing the public a non-stop update on air quality throughout the city and assess fluctuations.

Three new stations will be enlisted taking into account expansion of Delhi over the years and growing human and vehicular population. The CPCB has already drawn up a list of “proposed sites”, of which three will be selected and put to use.

“The city has in place four continuous air quality stations at Siri Fort, ITO, Delhi College of Engineering and East Delhi. This latest addition will help us cover a larger area and bring out a more comprehensive air-quality report. With three new stations, the Capital will also be the most monitored city in the country in terms of air quality,” said CPCB director S.D. Makhijani.

“Under this new expansion programme we propose to cover areas which have seen a sudden spurt in population, unmonitored industrial areas and districts that have seen vehicular and human population growth, but have been relatively under-covered by the Board. We are actively looking at areas including Dwarka and East Delhi,” added Dr. Makhijani.

The latest proposed expansion plan will also extend beyond the Capital with the CPCB proposing to install continuous air-quality monitoring systems in Bangalore, Chennai and Lucknow.

The Board is also executing a nation-wide programme of manual ambient air quality monitoring known as National Air Quality Monitoring Programme. The network consists of 332 operating stations covering 121 cities/towns in 25 States and four Union Territories.

The objectives of the programme are to determine the status and trends of ambient air quality; ascertain whether the prescribed ambient air quality standards have been violated; identify non-attainment cities; obtain the knowledge and understanding necessary for developing preventive and corrective measures; and to understand the natural cleansing process undergoing in the environment through pollution dilution, dispersion.

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