Pune to get six more air quality monitoring systems
PUNE The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) will be setting up six more air quality monitoring systems in the city
PUNE The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) will be setting up six more air quality monitoring systems in the city.
The city will receive ₹50 crore funds from the Union budget to set up the continuous ambient air quality monitoring system (CAAQMS) and undertake other works. The funding will be done in a phase-wise manner, said officials.
Other cities which will be receiving funds from the state are Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Nashik and Nagpur.
Mumbai has been allocated with a budget of ₹232 crore while other cities will get ₹50 crore each.
“Till now there was only one system in Pune city. Now that the area has widened in past few years, installation of six new systems will help to monitor air quality in a better way,” said an official from Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), Pune, on condition of anonymity.
Along with Pune, MPCB has also decided to add 41 new stations across the state. Currently, there are 101 air inspection quality centres in the state out of which 78 centres are manual and 23 are monitored via continuous ambient air quality monitoring system.
According to officials, there are also other criteria like controlling industrial smoke, vehicular emission, biomass burning which should be checked to improve air quality.
The urbanisation and increase of vehicular movement have deteriorated the air quality of the city. “MPCB undertakes preventive measures to control air pollution, but lack of public support has made things harder for us. In the coming days, we will also launch a few more programmes in the city to raise awareness about air pollution,” said the official quoted above.
Last year, in the same initiative, Pune city had received funds of ₹62 crore.