Three new air pollution monitors for Noida

Noida: Three more fully-automated machines will be installed in Noida over the next six months to monitor air quality in the two cities. This will take the total number of machines to six. Three such devices are already monitoring air quality in two cities.
The central pollution control board (CPCB) has allotted Rs 18 crore to Uttar Pradesh pollution control board (UPPCB) to set up nine round-the-clock, automated, air-quality monitoring stations. These stations are expected to be installed and become operational in the next six months. Of these, three are to be set up in Noida, three in Ghaziabad and three in Meerut.

The air-quality monitoring systems are to be located in all new and upcoming residential hubs and in central Noida. According to the regional officer of UPPCB in Gautam Budh Nagar, BB Awasthi, the new machines in Noida region are to be placed at the residential hubs in Sector 74 and Noida Extension. The third one will be installed at the residence of the district magistrate of Gautam Budh Nagar in Sector 27.

The areas for installing the machines in Ghaziabad and Meerut have not been decided yet.

“These machines are being imported. The total budget for installing these machines is about Rs 19 crore. The CPCB has sanctioned Rs 18 crore. Once these machines are set up, it will be easy to measure real-time pollution levels at exact locations in the city. This will, in turn, help us to take up adequate measures to to correct the pollution levels,” Awasthi added.

NCR’s rising pollution levels have been a cause for concern among green-watchers.

At present, Noida has three automated air-quality monitoring systems — one at Amity University monitored by UPPCB, another at Sector 62 that is monitored by the meteorological department and the third one at Sharda University in Greater Noida which is presently being set up by UPPCB. With the addition of three stations, the two areas will have six monitoring stations to calibrate its air-quality at various points of the city. Deteriorating air-quality has been impacting the health of Noida residents, activists have warned. Construction in Noida and Greater Noida combined with issues of crop waste burning are the major causes for the rapid fall in the city’s air quality in recent years.