Seven air monitoring stations to come up in Odisha

A web portal containing updated data about air and water quality in different areas of the State for public information and use will be developed soon.
For representational purpose.
For representational purpose.

BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) on Thursday reiterated its commitment to establish continuous air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS) in seven places of the State including the Capital city for real time monitoring of the pollution level.Though the SPCB had planned to develop such facilities in eight districts where pollution level is more due to excessive mining activities, Jajpur seems to have been dropped.

The board meeting of OSPCB which was held here under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy who approved the proposal for setting up CAAQM stations in the districts of Cuttack, Balasore, Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj and Angul apart from Bhubaneswar.At present two CAAQMS are operating at Talcher and Ib Valley in Brajrajnagar. 

The Chief Secretary directed OSPCB to complete the work within the current financial year.It was decided to put in place an SOP for rigorous validation and analysis of the large volume of raw data expected to be generated from these stations for public use. Another proposal regarding development of geo-database for environmental mapping was also approved. Member Secretary, OSPCB, K Murugesan said the meeting decided that it would be a web based application for areas where pollution level is on the rise.

A web portal containing updated data about air and water quality in different areas of the State for public information and use will be developed soon. Tripathy asked the Member Secretary to have weekly monitoring of the process to accomplish a major part of the task within a month.He asked the Board to come up with a definite action plan for setting a national benchmark in ‘hassle free compliance’ through simplification of the processes.

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