Chandigarh administration to conduct study to check pollution levels

The Chandigarh administration has decided to get a study conducted to check the increase in pollution levels in the city. This study, the administration claimed, is a bid to make the Union Territory (UT) carbon neutral by 2030.

A tender has also been floated by the Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee to hire an agency that would conduct the study to find the actual reason contributing to pollution in the city.

UT officials said that because air quality in the city is affected by a variety of complex sources, a detailed scientific study is required for identification of major sources, assessing their contributions to air pollution and suggest mitigation measures taking into consideration the techno-economic feasibility and other social factors.

“The study will profile ground level concentration (GLC) of air pollutants in different parts of the city, including background, residential, commercial/ mixed areas and source-specific “hot spots”,” the UT administration said.

During the study, inventory will be prepared for different air pollutants, their emission rates and pollution loads from various sources along with spatial and temporal distribution in the city.

It will also assess the impact of sources on ambient air quality under different management/ interventions/ control options and draw a road map of short term and long term measures as considered appropriate and cost effective to ensure “cleaner air in the city”.