One AQI monitor per sector within a month: GMDA

Within the next month, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Corporation (GMDA) will install 150 new air quality monitors across the city, one per sector, GMDA additional

Within the next month, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Corporation (GMDA) will install 150 new air quality monitors across the city, one per sector, GMDA additional chief executive officer (urban environment) MD Sinha said, adding that the precise locations for installing these monitors are being finalised.

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Other than the sectors, the automatic, low-cost air quality monitors will also be set up at major corporate hubs and landmarks of the city, such as Udyog Vihar and the Aravalli Biodiversity Park, officials said. They added that in October four such monitors were installed at the Tau Devi Lal Park, the Leisure Valley Park, the GMDA office in Sector 32 and at the Haryana Institute of Public Administration in Sector 18.

Citizens will be able to access data collected by these monitors on the GMDA’s website and a public display system, Sinha said, adding that within four weeks the data from the four monitors that have been installed will be available on the GMDA website.

For creating the network of monitors, the GMDA has partnered with air quality monitoring startups and companies which are conducting trials at the tentative sites of installation to determine feasibility, officials said.

The monitors will capture real-time and continuous PM2.5 and PM10 data, Sinha said. “A sector-wise breakdown of air quality will help in more efficient pollution monitoring and control. The monitors will provide a detailed, pan-city view of the pollution level that will be easily accessible to citizens,” he said.

Currently, Gurugram only has one CPCB air quality monitoring station at Vikas Sadan in Sector 11. Experts say the AQI ascertained by the station isn’t necessarily representative of the state of air across the city.

However, as per officials, the monitors would not be connected to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) air quality index (AQI) bulletin.

Meanwhile, the CPCB also plans to install two new air quality monitors in the city. “The locations for the same have to be decided. They should be operational by the end of the year,” Rajesh Garhia, senior scientist at the Haryana State Pollution Control Board, said.