Gzb: UPPCB receives plaints over proposed relocation of air monitoring station

The Ghaziabad municipal corporation on October 12 proposed to relocate the Loni station, stating that the Loni’s high levels of pollution affects the overall air quality index (AQI) of the Ghaziabad city

The UP Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) has started receiving objections over the proposed relocation of the air quality monitoring station located at the building of Loni Nagar Palika office to the forest area in Ghaziabad.

Ghaziabad witnesses a high level of air pollution during the winter. (Sakib Ali/HT)

The Ghaziabad municipal corporation on October 12 proposed relocating the Loni station, stating that Loni’s high levels of pollution affect the overall air quality index (AQI) reading of Ghaziabad.

“We have now started receiving objections from residents of Loni. We will route these objections to our headquarters at Lucknow. Once the objections are disposed of, the UPPCB will take a call on whether to relocate the station or not,” said Utsav Sharma, regional officer of UPPCB, Ghaziabad.

“The relocation of an air monitoring station cannot be taken up at the local level. It can be relocated only after the UPPCB gives the go ahead,” Sharma added.

The corporation officials said that they had written to the Ghaziabad Development Authority for a no-objection certificate for relocating the Loni station to the city forest near Karhera. “We have received the NOC and forwarded it to the UPPCB. Now, the relocation activity will be taken up by the pollution board,” said MS Tanwar, municipal commissioner.

The issue has also drawn flak from environmentalists who said that the proposed relocation would hide the correct pollution figures of Loni.

“I have given a complaint to the Central Pollution Control Board, UPPCB, divisional commissioner and district magistrate against the proposed relocation. It is just an attempt to hide the correct picture of the pollution in the city. I have also demanded that more monitoring stations should come up in the city, especially in industrial areas,” said Sushil Raghav, a city-based environmentalist.

“If no action is taken up on my complaint, I will move the National Green Tribunal against the relocation of the Loni station,” Raghav said.

Currently, Ghaziabad has four monitoring stations at Vasundhara, Loni, Sanjay Nagar, and Indirapuram. According to records of the CPCB, the monitoring station at Loni recorded the highest levels of PM2.5 and PM10 among all four stations during the years 2019 and 2020.