To provide relevant and current information regarding air pollution to the residents of the city, Delhi government will set up 20 more pollution monitoring stations across the city before winter sets in.
The news was confirmed by the office of Imran Hussain, Delhi environment minister. Sanjeev Sahani, a senior official in the environment department, told City Spidey that the tender for installing the air monitoring stations have been issued and the project would be completed by the end of September, 2017.
The new stations will be located in areas such as Footfall Federation (Dwarka), DAV College (Sriniwaspuri), Sonia Vihar, Civil Line and Patparganj. Last year, the government had set up 10 new stations in areas such as Greater Kailash, Defence Colony and Mayur Vihar.
Sahani said, “Once these 20 monitoring stations start functioning, they would help in providing area wise micro-level air quality information for the city. The government has allocated Rs 200 crore fund for this purpose.”
Currently, the city’s air pollution is being monitored by 13 air pollution monitoring stations. Six of them are being run by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and seven by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
Delhi is one of the most polluted cities of the world. Smoke and gases from vehicles, garbage lying on roads and in landfill sites, burning of garbage and poor waste management by the government and civic bodies has been a major concern for citizens.