Three new ambient air quality monitoring stations soon in Gurgaon

The city’s air quality has been marked ‘poor’ for most part of the year till now.

To monitor the air quality, three new ambient air quality monitoring stations will be installed in the city, officials said.This will be a part of a project where Haryana will get 19 more air pollution checking stations. At present Gurgaon has only one monitoring station at Rajiv Chowk.

Air quality monitoring station at Vikas Sadan building, in Gurgaon. (HT File)

KK Khandelwal, additional chief secretary (environment), Haryana announced this on Thursday during while speaking at a seminar to discuss implementation of the graded action plan organised by the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) at the Huda gymkhana club in Sector 29.

The city’s air quality has been marked ‘poor’ for most part of the year till now and the Environment Pollution Control and Prevention Authority (EPCA) also noted that there is no data available regarding various locations of the city.

Thus, it was concluded that the city needs more air quality monitoring system. “It is almost impossible to get a comparative data, so we have decided to install three stations,” said Khandelwal, adding that the tender for the Manesar IMT station have been released and its work will start soon.

The proposed site for commercial area air quality monitoring is close to cyber hub and to monitor the air quality for residential areas, a station can be installed near sector 45, said the HSPCB officials. “Till now we have received nod for Manesar IMT station. Locations for other stations have been sent to Chandigarh for approval,” said JB Sharma, regional officer, HSPCB, Gurgaon.

Each station will cost Rs 1 crore and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) officials will also provide their assistance in setting up the new stations.

Bhure Lal, chairman, EPCA, said, “Every stations should indicate all the parameters responsible for air pollution. This will help the residents to understand the system and they can also take necessary steps to mitigate air pollution.”