Punjab News: An air quality monitoring van will be used for the first time in Punjab to not only track air pollution levels but also raise general awareness among the populace about the quality of the air they are breathing. Prof. Dr. Adarsh Pal Vig, chairman of the Punjab State Pollution Control Board (PSPCB), made the announcement on the sidelines of the India Clean Air Summit (ICAS) 2023, which was held in Chandigarh on Friday. He stressed the significance of people understanding the air they were breathing. The van will be run by a local business as part of its corporate environmental responsibility (CER) programme, which is overseen by the PPCB.
Mobile Van’s Journey from Khadoor Sahib to Punjab Cities
The van’s voyage will begin at Khadoor Sahib in the Tarn Taran area of the Majha region, which already has a forested patch built by social worker and environmentalist Baba Sewa Singh. The air quality of this location will be measured, and after that, the van will go to other cities in Punjab to compare the various locations’ air quality levels and inform the locals about the air they are inhaling. The objective is to determine actions that can be implemented to raise local air quality. “The van will also be used during the stubble burning season at sites where there is deteriorating air quality due to stubble burning compared to those areas that are free from it. It will measure the air quality and explain to people the polluted air they are breathing. In other words, the van will not only capture data but also be a mobile sensitisation vehicle for citizens across the state. It will explain to the people the ill effects of air pollution and tell them of ways to improve air quality,” Dr Vig added.
Mobilizing Data Sharing for Positive Impact
People will be given the ability to improve the air they breathe through their own activities by sharing the data collected by the vehicle, advancing citizen science. Since healthy living depends on clean air, improved monitoring is crucial to halt the crisis’s escalation. “We will also be able to compare the air quality of different regions within Punjab using this mobile van, which will help us assess air quality abatement measures for each region based on this variability,” Dr Vig said. “Clean air is a win-win for health and climate but needs to be done with evidence-based strategies and research with local knowledge,” said Prof. During ICAS 2023, Vinayak Sinha, Professor, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali (IISER), added that India’s research on gas phase air quality is far behind other countries and that better monitoring data for volatile compounds are needed. Regional emissions are not sufficiently captured by emission factors determined elsewhere or by global emission inventories. “Agricultural burning is an episodic and important player in peak pollution episodes but reducing open burning of all kinds that occurs year around for waste disposal, as open biofuel combustion for cooking and heating in winter can help us gain maximum benefits for improved air quality as they have disproportionate influence,” added Prof Sinha.
Keep watching our YouTube Channel ‘DNP INDIA’. Also, please subscribe and follow us on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, and TWITTER.
