Air quality monitoring station likely at police camp

KOLKATA: West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) may instal the new automatic air quality monitoring station for north Kolkata at the Kolkata Armed Police camp on BT Road, after being refused access to the site on the Rabindra Bharati University (RBU) campus where the earlier monitoring station was situated.
Speaking to TOI, pollution board officials said they feared for the safety of the expensive, imported gadget at the RBU campus — where a local strongman had prevented its installation for months. The latter had demanded protection money in lakhs from the contractor appointed by the board to instal the Frenchbuilt machine.

“The sophisticated equipment costs over Rs 1 crore. We do not want to force its installation and then deal with damage or sabotage. Apart from the expenses involved in repairing the machine, it will also be a huge loss for the state as the existing unit has been non-functional for more than six months. Unless RBU authorities offer an assurance in writing, we cannot take any risk,” said a board official.

RBU vice-chancellor Sabyasachi Basu Roychowdhury did offer the board scientists an alternative site for the installation of the monitoring station during a meeting on Thursday. But the presence of the strongman just outside Roychowdhury’s office has left the board jittery about the fate of the equipment if they installed it in the campus.

Board chairman Kalyan Rudra, an academic, is not keen on shifting the monitoring station out of the institution but says he will have no choice if his team suggests so in the interest of the equipment that is vital to measure the air quality in north Kolkata. While there are three automatic air pollution monitoring stations in the south — CESC station at Taratala, US Consulate station at Ho Chi Minh Sarani and WBPCB station at Victoria Memorial Hall — north had only one at RBU that is not operational now.

“I felt a scientific air quality monitoring equipment in a university campus could help raise awareness among students. If we do relocate the station out of the RBU campus, we will set up a display board where the readings on ambient air quality will be displayed,” Rudra said.

RBU sources said the university had asked for a relocation of the earlier site due to a building expansion plan.

The machine from Environment SA of France can read the quantum of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), carbon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen and sulphur and other harmful chemicals in the air 24×7. No data has been generated from the RBU site for six months.

“Only real-time data is acceptable worldwide. Much to the embarrassment of the state, no data on Kolkata was available on the national air quality index. Now, only half of Kolkata is being represented. That a machine is lying idle is criminal,” said environmentalist Sudipto Bhattacharya.