Pollution board to set up 19 air quality monitoring stations

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, August 2

The Haryana State Pollution Control Board has decided to set up 19 continuous online ambient air quality monitoring (CAAQM) stations at all district headquarters to measure the level of pollution in the ambient air.

A spokesman for the board said yesterday that these CAAQM stations would be set up at Panipat, Sonepat, Rewari (Dharuhera), Bahadurgarh, Kaithal, Karnal, Yamunanagar, Gurugram (Manesar), Faridabad (Sec- 55 and 56), Ambala, Bhiwani, Fatehabad, Hisar, Jind, Kurukshetra, Mahendergarh, Mewat, Palwal and Sirsa.

He said the board had already installed four CAAQM stations at Faridabad, Gurugram, Rohtak and Panchkula for measuring the level of pollution in the ambient air. The data of ambient air quality of these towns were being analysed through a server at the head office of the board and the data were also being provided to the Central Pollution Control Board.

The spokesman said the board was constantly monitoring and persuading industries to install air pollution control devices (APCD) for controlling air pollution emitted by their units. No air polluting industry was allowed to operate without an APCD and the consent to operate was granted to these industries only after adequate pollution control measures had been installed. As a result, all air polluting industries have installed APCDs. All new industries had beem directed to install APCDs, he added.