AAP to launch mechanism to check pollution in real time

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is set to launch a super site and mobile (air quality management) van on Monday to help identify and control sources of air pollution in the Capital as part of the real-time source apportionment study for Delhi, officials said on Sunday.

Environment minister Gopal Rai said the super site is located on Delhi’s Rouse Avenue, within the premises of Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, and the study on realtime source apportionment will help the government determine the causes of the rise in air pollution at any location in Delhi. The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) initiated the project in collaboration with IIT Kanpur,

IIT Delhi and TERI.

The Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, doubted the efficacy of the study because “the super site is in a low-traffic density area, which is bound to record relatively lower pollution levels.”

“We trust organisations such as DPCC, IIT Kanpur, IIT and TERI to study pollution patterns for Delhi. Keeping in view the past failures (for example, smog towers and smog guns) of the Delhi government, one wonders how seriously the Kejriwal government will take this real-time source apportionment study. The Sarvodaya School in Rouse

Avenue, where this site is being created, is one of the lowest traffic density areas of Delhi and hence the pollution will be low too. We have our concerns as to its usefulness in providing accurate information,” said Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor.

Kejriwal has maintained that the launch of this super site is one of the most important aspects of Delhi’s campaign to combat pollution. Rai said it is also one of the most crucial elements of the Winter Action Plan. “Based on the data, this super site will also help forecast air pollution levels,” Rai said.

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Rouse Avenue is one of the lowest traffic density areas and the pollution will be low too. PRAVEEN SHANKAR KAPOOR,