An official said on Saturday that the Bihar pollution control board has implemented a system that would anticipate air quality 48 hours in advance in each of the state’s 534 blocks.
According to him, the program aims to reduce wintertime air pollution.
According to Devendra Kumar Shukla, chairman of the Bihar State Pollution Control Board, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-Kanpur) assisted with the installation of inexpensive sensors in the BDO offices throughout the state’s 534 blocks.
According to him, the air quality prediction system would send out notifications so that the public and the relevant authorities may take the appropriate action.
According to Shukla, the approach may provide decision-makers early knowledge about impending air pollution episodes that they can employ to lessen the public’s exposure to high air pollution occurrences.
“The state PCB has put inexpensive sensors in the block development offices of all 534 blocks in the state with technological assistance from IIT-Kanpur.
“These sensors will provide data on air quality, particularly in terms of particulate matter (PM2.5), which is the predominant pollutant in the ambient air not only in Bihar but throughout the entire Indo-Gangetic plain,” the head of the BSPCB told PTI.
Additionally, he said that Bihar’s relevant authorities are better equipped this year to monitor the state’s whole block-by-block air quality.
For the initiative to assess air quality, BSPCB and IIT, Kanpur inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in March.
According to him, the sensor installation process started in August and was finished last week.
throughout addition to the 35 monitoring stations of the BSPCB throughout the 25 districts of the state, these sensors are present.
“Cities are no longer the only places with air pollution. Particulate matter has been the main cause of the state’s high levels of air pollution in semi-urban and rural regions in recent years. We will be able to evaluate the contaminants that contribute to rural-to-urban pollution thanks to the installation of sensors in every block,” Shukla added.
According to him, the PCB would “help the PCB understand the contribution and extent of pollution in rural areas” with the aid of the evaluation of peripheral contamination.
“Data from the daily Air Quality Index (AQI) bulletin issued by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) supports the claims of rural or peripheral pollution contributing to the overall situation in the region,” he said.
‘Severe’ air quality days (AQI between 401 and 500) were recorded in the north Bihar town of Begusarai between November 1 of last year and January 30 of this year.
Thereafter, there were 30 further days in Siwan, 27 in Darbhanga, and 24 in Bettiah.
Additionally, 39 of the 65 days with poor air quality (AQI between 301 and 400) in Samastipur Town’s Motihari district.