GUWAHATI, Sept 24 - The first Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station (CAAQMS) in government sector in the North East was inaugurated by Forest Minister Parimal Suklabaidya today at the Pollution Control Board, Assam (PCBA) headquarters here.
The Central government has made provisions for setting up of such CAAQMS in all state capital cities. The PCBA has got the station with a 90 per cent share of Central government and 10 per cent of the Board.
With this station, one can generate real-time continuous air quality data, displayed to public through two display boards, one at the head office of PCBA and another at Aranya Bhavan at Panjabari.
Continuous data will be able to show the variation of air quality throughout the day. Based on such data, proper management of air pollution can be done, PCBA officials said. The station will generate air quality data in terms of Particulate Matter 10, PM 2.5, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ammonia, carbon monoxide, ozone, benzene, toluene and xylene. Besides these, weather-related data on rainfall, humidity, wind speed and wind direction will also be generated at the station.
�Air pollution has become a prime issue due to rapid industrialisation, development of infrastructure and increase in number of vehicles. Database on air quality is necessary for any control measure,� Minister Suklabaidya said.
PCBA has been monitoring air quality in 23 manual locations across the State.
PCBA Chairman AM Singh said the CAAQMS is the first of its kind in government sector in the North East. �However, some industries have already started real-time monitoring. We hope more such stations will come up in other parts of Assam which will give real-time monitoring data in air quality,� Singh added.
