Real-time pollution data from Aug 1

The progress on the project was assessed in a review meeting held on Wednesday by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal with officials from IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Delhi, and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) -- the three institutions involved in the project.

Putting a timeline to when Delhi will start receiving real-time data on the sources of pollution in Delhi, the state government on Wednesday said the first such daily report will be available from August 1, with a super site to identify sources of pollution to be established in Delhi by the end of July.

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee was appointed the nodal agency for the study.

The progress on the project was assessed in a review meeting held on Wednesday by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal with officials from IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Delhi, and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) -- the three institutions involved in the project.

Once functional, Delhi will become the first city to identify the real-time source of air pollution through its apportionment system, with the project to also be used for identifying factors responsible for rise in air pollution at any given location and at any given time in Delhi.

While a cabinet approval was received in October last year, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed later that month. The Delhi Pollution Control Committee was appointed the nodal agency for the study.

“...(after mid-October) the level starts spiking suddenly. Looking at Nasa’s satellite imagery, it has been noticed that a large amount of stubble is burnt during that period, despite statistics stating each time that only 5% of Delhi’s pollution is from stubble burning,” said Kejriwal during the review meeting.

“This study and project will let us know the exact contribution of each sector,” he said.

The meeting was also attended by environment minister Gopal Rai, Delhi Development Commission vice-chairperson Jasmine Shah and other senior Delhi government officials .

During the meeting, professor Mukesh Sharma from IIT-Kanpur told the CM that a suitable location has been identified for the establishment of a super site to track real-time sources of pollution across Delhi.

“They have proposed to set up a super site on Pandara Road in central Delhi. Work on setting up the super site will begin by the end of July. It will be built over an area of up to 36sqm and it will be about 3m tall,” said an official, asking not to be named.