Air quality: MPCB to set up 11 more continuous monitoring stations in city by March

Recognising the need to improve air quality monitoring, MPCB will set up 11 more continuous monitoring stations in the city by next month. (Express Photo by Prashant Nadkar/File)

Recognising the need to improve air quality monitoring, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) will set up 11 more continuous monitoring stations in the city by next month. The MPCB intends to double the number of monitoring stations in the state within the year. “We are going to have another 11 continuous air monitoring stations in Mumbai and we should be able to inaugurate those before March. We will have six more stations in adjoining areas like Vasai-Virar, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan and Dombivali. We will also be doubling the number of stationary monitoring stations across the state in less than a year,” said Dr P Anbalagan, MPCB member secretary.

Currently, the state has 78 stationary monitoring stations and the MPCB intends to initially install another 57 stations. In the next phase, it plans to set up another 22. Mumbai has only two MPCB stations — Sion and Bandra — other than 10 stations set up by the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), an initiative by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES). Once the 11 new stations are set up, Mumbai is likely to have one of the country’s largest air quality monitoring networks.

The pollution control body has been conducting air quality monitoring at the 78 stations with help of engineering colleges. It will continue to follow the model for the upcoming stationary monitoring stations as well. “We are the only state that follows this model. It is accepted by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the Government of India as a good model and they are trying to emulate it in the other states. We do not have sufficient manpower to handle all the stations. So, the graduates from these colleges act as an extended arm to assist us. We train these students. While we do not give them monetary benefits, working with the government gives them practical experience and adds to their skills,” added Dr Anbalagan.

The MPCB wants to have at least one stationary monitoring station in every district headquarters across the state in the next three-four months and at least one continuous monitoring station in each of the 27 municipal corporations in the state in the coming year. It proposes to provide the data on a mobile application, apart from the MPCB website.

“Once we have more monitoring stations operational, we will have an app. We are also trying to integrate it with SAFAR data so that the app will not only give data from our stations but also from SAFAR stations,” Dr Anbalagan added.

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