Doranda forest office

Ranchi, March 16: The people of Ranchi and Dhanbad will soon know the air they breathe in.

After over a year’s delay since procurement of equipment, the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) is, finally, in the process of setting up ambient air quality monitoring stations in the capital and coal town.

Member secretary of JSPCB S.K. Sinha said they had earlier wanted to set up the stations in high-frequency areas like Kutchery Road, Main Road or Kantatoli Chowk in Ranchi, but the government failed to provide land. Now, the facilities will come up on forest office premises in both the places.

Sinha said the pollution board had received one decimal land on Dhanbad forest office premises and the tender had already been finalised. “The station there will be set up and commissioned as soon as some formalities are completed,” he said.

In Ranchi, the forest office in Doranda will house the air monitoring facility. The JSPCB is in the process of floating a tender for operation and maintenance of the capital station. “Both locations are busy intersections with heavy vehicular flow. So, monitoring ambient air will not be a problem,” Sinha maintained.

According to the JSPCB member secretary, the estimated cost of installing each station is Rs 1.5 crore, while maintenance charge will be Rs 10 lakh per annum.

Once commissioned, Sinha said, the two stations would monitor air composition and level of pollutants 24x7. “Presence of carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, benzene, toluene, xylene and ozone in air will be known on real-time basis,” he said, adding that tab would also be kept on wind speed and humidity.

“A giant display board will be installed outside each station for the public. The same data will be transmitted to our headquarters in Dhurwa and also to the Central Pollution Control Board in New Delhi,” Sinha said.

The JSPCB is also entrusted with the task of drafting the State Climate Action Plan under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, which was launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2008.

Jharkhand has been violating the deadline since December 2009. Sinha said they were trying to bring all stakeholders — departments like forest and water among others — on one platform to chalk out the plan.