Gurugram: An air quality monitoring machine installed in Gwalpahari by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) earlier this week has been linked to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) website, making data on pollution levels in New Gurugram available to residents for the first time.The data recorded by this machine, installed on the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) campus in Gwalpahari, over the past six days shows that the PM2 .5 level there was higher on five of these days than the levels recorded by the city’s other monitoring machine — operated by the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) and installed at Vikas Sadan in Old Gurugram, on which the city has been dependent for pollution monitoring since 2012. Recently, another machine was installed by the state pollution control board at IMT Manesar.The PM2.5 levels in the Gwalpahari area were higher than that in Old Gurugram from November 12-15. The highest level was recorded at 231.65 micrograms per cubic metre on Wednesday. The machine at Vikas Sadan recorded the highest PM2.5 at 203.22 micrograms per cubic metre on Monday.For three days (November 12, 13, 14), PM2.5 levels in the Gwalpahari area were above 200 micrograms per cubic metre, nearly three times higher than the acceptable limit.The machine at Vikas Sadan recorded PM2.5 above 200 only on November 12. So far, air quality index (AQI) readings from the Gwalpahari machine have not been published on the CPCB website. PM2.5 is an indication of vehicular pollution and fine dust particles.The recently-installed machine records pollution levels in areas within a radius of 5-6km, including parts of Golf Course Road, MG Road, Gurugram-Faridabad Road, the Bandhwari area in Faridabad, DLF 1, 2 and 5, sectors 54 and 55, and some areas of Delhi.The one at Vikas Sadan, on the other hand, measures pollution levels in areas within a 5km radius, including Rajiv Chowk, Civil Lines and parts of Old Gurugram and sectors 44, 45, 46, 47 and 48.According to pollution control board officials, one of the reasons for the higher levels of PM2.5 could be the new machine’s proximity to the industrial city of Faridabad. “It might be because NISE is close to the Delhi-Haryana border and covers areas of Faridabad, which is an industrial town. The level of particulate matter has always been higher in Faridabad compared to Gurugram,” said an official of HSPCB.Jitender Bhadana of NGO Save Aravali said, “The Gwalpahari area is surrounded by the Aravalis but air pollution levels are higher due to various environmental violations here. It is not just because of industrial pollution as most industrial activities were banned after Diwali. It is because of continuous waste dumping along the Gurugram-Faridabad Road and overnight waste burning in the green belts. Moreover, preventive measures such as sprinkling of water on construction waste and implementation of construction norms are not strictly implemented by authorities.”In 2017, some private agencies took the initiative to install an air quality monitoring machine in the DLF area. The pollution data, however, has not been made public by the agencies yet. The AQI in Gurugram remains in the ‘poor’ category for 80% of the year and the situation worsens in the winter.

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