World-class air monitors for Delhi

Starting Thursday, residents of Dwarka will be able to gauge round-the-clock how much of the air they breathe is choked with pollutants.

Starting Thursday, residents of Dwarka will be able to gauge round-the-clock how much of the air they breathe is choked with pollutants.

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A new, imported air-pollution monitoring device is ready to be commissioned at Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology at Sector-12, Dwarka, which will measure the level of pollution every second and display the figures in an electronic board.

“The display will have the permissible limits and the actual levels for all pollutants, like nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide etc,” said a senior official of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Apart from Dwarka, CPCB is installing a similar system in Dilshad Garden as well.

“This will take the total number of automatic air monitoring systems in Delhi to five. They will start streaming data from Thursday. Another one at Shadipur Depot will come up soon” he said.

Imported from the US, each machine costs Rs 80 lakh with an operating cost of Rs 10 lakh per year. “The data they generate are accurate,” he added.

As per the National Ambient Air Monitoring Network, CPCB will have 354 such stations in India, nine of which are currently in Delhi. The pollution board has recently revised the parameters of air pollution to include more pollutants.

“Apart from the usual harmful gases, the new machines will be able to monitor new pollutants like volatile organic compounds, and ozone,” he said.