Stepping up national capital's fight at the multiple levels to tackle the menace of pollution, Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Wednesday directed officials to fast-track the roll-out of a real-time source apportionment study to strengthen the national capital's air quality management.
The study, to be led by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, will focus on continuous monitoring and analysis of air pollutants, with a special emphasis on particulate matter (PM10), to enable evidence-based policy interventions.The proposal, presented on Wednesday by a team of scientists from IIT Delhi in a high-level meeting chaired by Sirsa, laid out a comprehensive roadmap to strengthen Delhi's air quality management ecosystem through science-backed interventions, officials said.Officials claimed the proposal was pending under the previous government and was subsequently shelved.
"While Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) is already undertaking work on PM2.5, there had been a prior commitment under the action plan to also take up PM10 in a focused manner," they said, adding that in line with the same, a decision to move forward with the study was taken during the meeting between the Delhi government's Environment Department, Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and the IIT Delhi.
According to a government statement, the proposed five-year study aims to move beyond episodic assessments by introducing real-time source apportionment of air pollution, allowing policymakers to identify pollution sources dynamically and respond more effectively during peak pollution periods.asked officials to expedite approvals so that the project can be launched at the earliest.
A key component of the initiative is the re-operationalisation of the DPCC's supersite, which will be supported by advanced instruments and integrated with mobile monitoring units to track pollution hotspots across the city.This will create a platform capable of delivering continuous, high-resolution data for informed decision-making, officials added.
"The study will help the government evaluate the impact of the multi-pronged interventions being implemented under the Environment Action Plan, especially in terms of seasonal pollution trends and hotspot behaviour," Sirsa said.Sharing the features of the project, officials mentioned that it will include hotspot-based monitoring, with mobile van-based monitoring covering major hotspots annually, ensuring coverage of all critical hotspots over the years.
It will also include 24/7 supersite operations, with continuous monitoring to generate baseline and seasonal data, crucial for policy calibration, as well as advanced instrumentation like deployment of ceilometers, GHG (Greenhouse gas) analysers, and multi-channel samplers to distinguish meteorological effects from local emissions.
They added that the initiative would significantly strengthen Delhi's ability to diagnose pollution sources more accurately, assess policy effectiveness, and create a stronger evidence base for future action.”Delhi's fight against air pollution must be guided by science, data, and accountability," the minister said.
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