City to have real-time air quality monitoring system

Mohit Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 9

The city will soon have a real-time air quality monitoring system installed in its various locations.

Sushil Kumar Tyagi, Additional Director and Head, Environmental Training Unit, Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi, said the government was going to introduce digital pollution meters that would provide real- time pollution count.

He said the real-time air pollution meters would be installed in selected cities across the country and Chandigarh was one of such cities. He said at present digital meters installed at various locations display the pollution count of the previous day.

“Whereas the hi-tech system will show the real-time pollution count on the digital screen,” Tyagi said.

Cricket match controversy

The controversy surrounding the cricket test match played recently in Delhi between Sri Lanka and India, where the Lankan players wore pollution mark, dominated the final day of the conference on the ‘Indoor and Outdoor Air Pollution, Standards and Impacts on Human Health’, held at the PU. Dr Ravindra Khaiwal from the School of Public Health, PGIMER, said pollution and politics should be kept away from the game.

“Pollution does not differentiate between Indian and Sri Lankan players. It is wrong to say that Indian players are accustomed to pollution while Sri Lankan players were finding it difficult to breathe. If at all pollution masks were required, it should have been worn by batsmen as they were running between the wickets,” said Khaiwal. Sushil Kumar Tyagi said there was an urgent need of increasing public transport vehicles to bring down the pollution level in Delhi. He said Delhi was short of nearly Rs 20,000 public transport buses, the absence of which was resulting in the rise in the pollution level.

Stubble burning contributed 20% to pollution: Expert

Khaiwal said stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana contributed 20 to 25 per cent of the air pollution whereas 40 per cent of the air pollution was caused by storm that originated in the Gulf region in the Middle-East.

“The recent study by the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research has proved that pollution was settled in Delhi due to the anti-cyclonic condition. Further, vehicular pollution and resuspending of dust is also leading to pollution,” he said. He was quick to add that the government should look for an alternative to end the stubble burning and provide subsidy on machines which would help farmers in processing the stubble.

Dr Tarun Gupta, Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, said a complete ban on the sowing of paddy would have a catastrophic effect on the farming sector of Punjab, unless the government introduces a better crop option with subsidy. — TNS