Pune students design device to detect pollution near Village

Students at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, have designed a special device which will enable volunteers at the Commonwealth Games this October to collect primary data for transport emission around the Games Village.

The device is part of the System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research project, undertaken by the Ministry of Earth Sciences and IITM to keep a check on pollution during the October 3-14 event.

Project director Dr Gufran Beig of IITM said, “Emission by vehicles is a major contributor to air pollution. This calculator-size device will be given to students to record primary data to calculate vehicular pollution in and around the Commonwealth Games Village.”

According to Beig, the Rs 15-crore project is the first air quality-forecasting project to be conducted in the country.

Divided in three categories — trucks and buses, four-wheelers and two-wheelers — students will be able to record data such as the number of vehicles passing a particular point, the number of vehicles waiting for signal at a given moment, the duration for which vehicles halt at these signals, and timings when vehicular population is maximum, among others.

“This data will then be used as input for emission inventory that will help analyse air pollution, with parameters such as emission per minute and direction of air flow,” Beig said. “Along with this set-up, we will also analyse data such as increased emission levels due to generator sets during powercuts, increased carbon levels due to burning of fossil fuels in villages around Delhi, along with data related to vegetation cover in and around the city.”

The data will then be supplied to the Delhi government’s Environment department for further action to control emissions. Having started the project a year ago, IITM plans a mock drill three or four months before the Games, Beig said.