NEW DELHI: By October, the city's average air quality readings are likely to change as the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) will start monitoring pollution levels in 20 new locations.
These include two industrial areas, Najafgarh and Okhla, and far-flung locations such as Mundka, Narela, Bawana and Dwarka. The air quality in some urban villages like Masoodpur and Dayalpur will be screened as well.
Currently, data is collected from 23 stations.
An extensive network of monitoring centres can help the authorities tailor-make plans to deal with pollution in local pockets and will also give a more accurate picture of the overall air quality in the city, according to experts. "We will definitely have more representative data. This will ensure that prediction or forecast of air pollution is more accurate," a DPCC official said.
Currently, 13 areas are monitored jointly by the DPCC and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting Research (SAFAR) under the Union ministry of earth sciences keeps a tab on the air quality in 10 others centres in Delhi-NCR.
"We will definitely have more representative data. This will ensure that prediction or forecast of air pollution is more accurate. The implementation of the graded response action plan will become easier because we are not going to generalize air quality for the city but will have a fair idea of what levels may be like in different land use locations," said a DPCC official. The project of setting up these stations has been tendered to an Australian firm and the equipment at most locations will monitor six gases and particulate matter (PM 10 and PM 2.5). The real time data will be available on DPCC website, while CPCB will disseminate air quality index (AQI) of all these locations on their website.
"One big hole that we are plugging this time is industrial areas and unauthorized industries located in different areas. This was a missing link in terms of monitoring. So land use representation will improve and we can do micro-mapping of areas for targeted management of air pollution. The monitoring for other areas in NCR also needs to improve and come at par," said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director at Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). In a meeting called by Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) this January on enforcement of the graded response action plan, NCR states and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) officials said that 13 new real time stations will be set up in Haryana, 10 in Uttar Pradesh, and 2 in Rajasthan.
