IIT Delhi to help state government in real time tracking of pollution sources

Gearing up to combat winter air pollution in the capital, the Delhi government on Tuesday gave the go-ahead to real-time monitoring of PM2.5 and PM10 sources in collaboration with IIT-Delhi, and to procure 30 EV-based mechanical road sweepers. A Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta took the decisions to strengthen ground-level dust removal and to enable scientific, real-time identification of pollution sources, a statement issued by the chief minister's office (CMO) said.

Mechanised cleaning will be extended to smaller roads, and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will be provided a grant to procure 30 EV-based mechanical road sweeping machines. The initiative will cover 609 km of roads with a right of way less than 10 metres. A total of 854 roads across 250 wards have been identified under the initiative, the statement said.

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The deployment of 30 EV-based mechanical road sweeping machines is estimated to cost around Rs 393.73 crore over 10 years, the CMO said. In the second decision, a system for continuous, real-time identification and analysis of PM2.5 and PM10 pollution sources will be developed in collaboration with IIT-Delhi, it said.

PM10 and PM2.5 are solid and liquid microscopic pollutants contributed by vehicular and industrial emissions as well as dust. Gupta said the Delhi government is not looking at pollution merely as a problem that intensifies during winter, but is working continuously and scientifically on pollution sources throughout the year. Real-time source apportionment of PM2.5 and PM10 in partnership with IIT-Delhi will help scientific analysis of major sources of pollution and their quantities over 24 hours.

The system will help identify and assess pollution sources such as vehicular emissions, road dust and biomass burning, the statement said. The chief minister said the existing 'supersite' at Rouse Avenue would be reactivated for scientific operations, while a mobile laboratory would also be reactivated to enable targeted studies of pollution hotspots and local sources. The collaboration with IIT-Delhi will be for five years and is estimated to cost around Rs 19.22 crore. The project will include restarting the existing supersite and mobile laboratory, setting up a real-time dashboard and analytical reporting, and undertaking work related to enhancing the capacity of Delhi Pollution Control Committee officials, the statement said.