By Kaushik Bhattacharya :
■ Moderate AQI causes breathing discomfort to ones with lung, heart diseases, kids and old
DESPITE administrative efforts to reduce air pollution in Nagpur city, the air quality is not up to the mark as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) standards. According to the seven Air Quality Monitoring Stations of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) in the city, the Air Quality Index (AQI) of Nagpur in the month of February was moderate on most days. The only functional Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station (CAAQMS) at Divisional Commissionerate in Civil Lines shared the daily AQI data. As per the uploaded data of the CAAQMS, the AQI of Nagpur city in the month of February was moderate for 25 days.
The Respiratory Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) of Nagpur city for all 25 days was above 100 µg/m3 which is poor. The Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station situated at MPCB Regional Office in Civil Lines calculate the AQI six daysin a week and the Station onFebruary recorded eight daysmoderate AQI of the city whereas remaining days were satisfactory. Remaining five Ambient AirQuality Monitoring Stations inthe city including Institution of Engineers, North Ambazari Road; MIDC Office, HingnaRoad; Government PolytechnicCollege, Sadar; WaterTreatment Plant, Kamptee; andMJP Water Supply Station, Wadi; which provide the AQI data of the city for two days ina week also recorded moderate air quality most of the daysin the month of February. Nagpur city has comes underthe list of 131 non-attainmentcities of CPCB under theNational Clean Air Programme(NCAP) initiative. According toNCAP portal, Nagpur cityreceived Rs 142.05 crore under NCAP fund for improvement of air quality till 2018. As per the portal, city received Rs 26.25 crore for the financial year 2022-23 but it is not yet utilised by the local administration. MPCB installed three new CAAQMS in city at Town Hall, Mahal; VNIT; and LIT premises to monitor air quality on daily basis. However, the functioning of the stations are still not started. “All the four CAAQMS in the city are working but due to some technical reason the three newly installed stations not providing data to the CPCB website,” Umakant Bahadule, Sub Regional Officer, MPCB told The Hitavada. “Haphazard construction work in all over city, increased traffic jams and emission from thermal power plants are the main reason behind deteriorating air quality of the city. NCAP is a good initiative by the Central Government to improve the air quality in the country and the cities are also getting fund under this initiative,” said a senior official of MPCB on a condition of anonymity.