Air quality monitors in Gurugram function erratically even as Grap comes into force

City based environmentalists said three of four monitors did not display data when they checked them over the past three to four days. Since measures under Grap kick in based on the air quality index (AQI) readings from these monitors, without them, the Grap would fail to be effective

A week after the graded response action plan (Grap) came into force on October 1 across the National Capital Region (NCR), including Gurugram, to tackle winter pollution in a pre-emptive manner, city based environmentalists said the air quality monitors installed by the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) are on the blink or throwing up erratic readings.

Only two out of four pollution monitors are working in the city. The Vikas Sadan monitor is not apparently not recording the pollution levels in Gurugram. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)

City based environmentalists said three of four monitors did not display data when they checked them over the past three to four days. Since measures under Grap kick in based on the air quality index (AQI) readings from these monitors, without them, the Grap would fail to be effective, they said.

They said the air quality monitor at Vikas Sadan near mini secretariat, the Sameer application developed by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) that displays the AQI of different cities, showed no data for Vikas Sadan from October 1 to October 5.

Likewise, the air quality monitor at Gwal Pahari, installed by the IMD, has also been showing data erratically and because of that, the AQI from this station has not been taken into account by Sameer application for October 3,4,5 and 6.

Environmentalist Ruchika Takkar said, “We have observed that when we try to access the monitoring units online -- on the link https://app.cpcbccr.com/AQI_India/ -- the data is unavailable on some days for the stations in Gurugram. This frequent failure of air quality monitoring units is a matter of grave concern.”

The environmentalists said data was missing from monitors installed at NISE, Gwal Pahari, Gurugram stations (operated by IMD) on October 5 and 6, while it was missing from Sector 51 (operated by Gurugram HSPCB) on October 5, and from Vikas Sadan ( run by Gurugram HSPCB) on October 1, October 5 and October 6.

Environmentalists said Gurugram has the dubious distinction of being one of the most polluted cities in the world and, hence, proper monitoring of air quality was a must. They also said since Grap measures are based on the AQI, it’s necessary that such vital equipment and monitoring processes are fully functional and their readings readily available to the public.

Air quality expert Sachin Panwar said as the monitors are not functioning properly, the data does not log into the centralised system. “Lack of data will hamper decision making in real time. The machines here are sophisticated but despite that, the most erratic data comes from Gururgam. There is urgent need to take corrective action,” he said

When asked about the matter, HSPCB officials said only their monitor at Vikas Sadan was not working properly, due to a glitch, but they are monitoring the air quality manually.

“Our stations at Sector 51 and Teri Gram are functioning normally and all data is being captured. The air quality monitor at Vikas Sadan will be made fully functional by Friday afternoon,” said Kuldeep Singh, regional officer, HSPCB.

P Raghvendra Rao, chairman, HSPCB said, “We are very serious about curbing pollution and the entire department is working hard to implement Grap. No such glitches will be tolerated and the agency concerned will be issued a show cause notice if the system is not repaired by Friday,” he said.

VK Soni, IMD official, said glitches in their AQI monitoring system at Gwal Pahari will be rectified by Friday.