AHMEDABAD: In the coming few weeks eight air monitoring stations will be made operational at different locations in Ahmedabad by the ministry of earth sciences (MoES).
These stations will provide Amdavadis pollution forecast and real time concentration of air pollutants at respirable level on their mobile phones. But all this hi-tech intervention will yield nothing unless the state government, without any delay, declares a comprehensive Air Action Plan for Ahmedabad .
On Monday with a view to mitigating the risks associated with air pollution, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) organized a workshop jointly with Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH), Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC) and Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune. Two innovative strategies—city-wide air quality monitoring system and a broad public information and education campaign was announced during the workshop.
The GPCB sources claim that the air action plan, presently in the draft form, is pending approval with the chief secretary and awaits a final nod of the chief minister. Various agencies like the revenue department, municipal corporation, Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB), law, urban development, health and other allied departments have already submitted their suggestions to the draft plan. As far as the monitoring stations are concerned, the IITM under the MoES will install the stations at Bopal, Satellite, Pirana, Raikhad, Airport, Gift City, Navrangpura and Chandkheda.
"Currently, Ahmedabad features among the top 15 polluted cities, according to a WHO report. However, this has been computed using limited information. By coming up with Ahmedabad Air Information and Response Plan (AIR), we aim to obtain more data and measures to gauge the air quality and extent of population in the city," said Dileep Mavlankar, director, IIPH-Gandhinagar.
