Delhi one step closer to getting info about real-time pollution sources: Kejriwal

A project to identify real-time sources of pollution in Delhi has moved one step closer towards operationalisation, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Tuesday.

Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and Environment Department of Delhi government on Tuesday held the second review meeting of the project – ‘Real-time source apportionment study and pollution forecasting’ with the team from IIT Kanpur and other partner organisations, the government said in a statement.

The project was approved by the Delhi cabinet and a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in October last year.

A team of IIT Kanpur, IIT Delhi, The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI), and Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER) Mohali will execute the study in the national capital. Delhi government’s DPCC has been authorised to act as the nodal agency for executing the study with IIT Kanpur.

“We are extremely glad that IIT Kanpur study is progressing well on time despite the occasional disruptions caused by Covid. I congratulate the team at IIT Kanpur and DPCC for setting up good programme management mechanisms to ensure timely progress,” Environment Minister Gopal Rai said.

“We look forward to receiving the results of the study in the next few months and Delhi becoming the first city to have a real time source apportionment of air pollution,” he added.

The project will help understand the real-time impact of various pollution sources like vehicles, dust, biomass burning, stubble burning, and emissions from industries, according to the Delhi government.

Based on the results obtained, the Delhi government said it will be able to take necessary actions to curb the sources of pollution. This will go a long way in identifying the various factors contributing to Delhi’s pollution and addressing those factors, it said.

According to Reena Gupta, advisor to the environment minister, the availability of pollution forecasting on an hourly basis for the next seven days will be extremely crucial for the government to take data-backed policy decisions around school closures, construction site ban, vehicular restrictions, among others.

“Currently, due to the absence of a reliable forecasting system, we are bound to make decisions based on previous years’ experience rather than the future forecast,” Gupta said.

The key highlights presented by the IIT Kanpur team on Tuesday included successful contracting with IIT Delhi, TERI and other partners for their respective scope of work, the statement said.

Closure of tender process for purchase of equipment like real-time ambient air analyser and online particulate matter and ion analysis system, timely progress of global tender for purchase of advanced equipment, and progress on the development of the air pollution forecasting system to provide hourly, daily and weekly data on air pollution were among the highlights, it said.