Nagpur: Taking a very necessary step to improve the air quality that deteriorates the city, the Maharashtra pollution control board (MPCB) is preparing four new air monitoring stations in the city.
On Tuesday, one of the new stations installed in Wadi was inaugurated.
MPCB ​​officials said the air quality monitoring station was installed at the Sant Temple of Maharaj in Wadi.
“At this location, particles (PM) 2.5, PM10 and sulfur and nitrogen oxides will be monitored.
The operation and maintenance of this station will be carried out by the Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT),” Anand Kare said, regional officers, MPCB, Nagpur.
Wadi is also part of Core City, said sub-regional officers, added, “We will ensure that the Ambient Wadi air quality is examined in accordance with the National Air Quality Monitoring Program (Namp).
The station in Wadi will be operated manually.” As reported by TOI Previously, the council had monitored the Namp station in the civil lines, Hingna MIDC, and an institution of engineers on the North Ambazari road.
“At present, the city has only one sustainable air quality monitoring station in the civil pathway,” the official said.
In a positive development for the city, three new monitoring stations to be regulated will also be a sustainable air quality monitoring station.
“The location will be the office of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation in expensive, the VNIT campus at the Bajaj Nagar and the Laxminaray Institute of Technology (LIT) in Amravati Road.
The work of installing these stations has begun and we expect them to function in a few months,” official added.
In March this year, TOI was the first to report that the city would get a new monitoring station.
Officials informed that the cost of a continuous air quality monitoring station around RS2.5 Crore.
“These stations have been approved and funded by the Central Pollution Control Agency (CPCB), which will also appoint private operators for station operations and maintenance.
With this, we hope to get more reliable data about city air quality,” officials said.
At present, CPCB has calculated the City Air Quality Index (AQI) based on data from the only stations in the Civil Line, which, environmental experts say it will never bring a real picture forward.
Nagpur is one of the country’s non-achievement cities, and does not meet the prescribed air quality standards set by the Ministry of Environment Union.
The fact that it was surrounded by coal power plants and a large number of industries made the situation worse.