BMC to procure 5 handheld air quality monitoring devices
To monitor pollutants and the Air Quality Index (AQI) levels around construction sites in Mumbai, in a pilot project, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is set to procure five handheld ambient air quality monitoring devices at a cost of Rs. 5 lakh each.
The mobile equipment will be earmarked solely for the use of BMC engineers to maintain data and facilitate real time monitoring of AQI, particulate matters as well as pollutant gases.
'While the court has called for all construction sites to install their own monitoring sensors, it is also necessary that our engineers have their own monitoring mechanisms to ensure that the air quality levels are not breaching the normals. At a time when we are trying to implement several projects to mitigate air pollution, maintaining data of harmful gases and pollutants is very crucial. Therefore, we are planning to obtain five handheld monitoring devices which will monitor the PM 2.5, PM 10 levels as well as other indicators and calculate the overall AQI in and around construction sites,' a senior official told The Indian Express.
Currently, the city is home to nearly 25 monitoring stations of which 11 are operated by the MPCB, nine controlled by the SAFAR, while five are run by the BMC. Furthermore, the civic body has also rolled out plans to install five more new Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS).
According to officials, the data from these hand-held monitoring devices will be used by civic engineers and officials in addition to the data from installed stations.
'Unlike the CAAQMS, which are quite big and require a lot of space, the new handheld devices are compact and can be transported easily wherever a need arises,' an official said, adding, 'Besides checking the pollution levels around construction sites, our engineers can also use these machines wherever a need is felt. For instance if the reading on the stations is quite high or if we receive complaints of foul smell etc.'
Recently, BMC's environment and climate change department floated a tender for the procurement of outdoor mobile ambient air quality monitoring devices. Estimated a cost of Rs 5 lakh each, these units will be equipped to monitor parameters of PM 2.5, PM 10, Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Methane (CH4), Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOC) as well as temperature, humidity and the moisture index.
'With the machines being expensive, we are planning to acquire only five machines in the pilot project. Once pressed into operations, we will observe their utility amongst our engineers and accuracy. If we observe positive trends, we will purchase more such hand-held monitoring devices in the future,' said an official.
For the record, earlier this month, the civic body has also instructed the developers to install approved sensor-based AQI monitoring stations at the construction within a period of 30 days. The instructions have been issued in line with the technologies from 15 companies which were shortlisted by the civic body, after an Expression of Interest (EOI) inviting units for particulate matters was floated in February.
'Even though our 27-point guideline for air pollution mitigation maintains that all construction sites must install stations to monitor air quality levels at site, we found that presently, only 10 percent of the construction sites were following the directives. However, in these cases, it was observed that the readings from the machines were not reliable. Therefore, we had floated an EOI to streamline and standardise the type and quality of machines in a bid to ensure accurate AQI. Having now finalised technologies from 15 companies, we have informed all construction sites to install these monitoring stations,' said a senior civic official.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News18
2 hours ago
- News18
7 Scholarships Offered By IIT Roorkee For UG, PG Students; Check Details
Last Updated: Here are a few scholarships offered by IIT Roorkee that aim to reward academic excellence and merit, ensuring deserving students receive the necessary financial support. IIT Roorkee campus (File) The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee offers numerous scholarships to support students in its undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) programmes in engineering, architecture, applied sciences, and planning studies. IIT Roorkee provides undergraduate degrees in 10 disciplines and postgraduate programmes in 55 disciplines, along with research and PhD opportunities across departments. Here are some scholarships provided by the institute to reward academic excellence and merit, ensuring that deserving students receive the necessary financial support. Key Scholarships Offered: — The James Thomason Scholarship is available to students of BTech, BArch, Integrated Dual Degree (IDD), Integrated MSc (IMS), and BS-MS programmes. Students admitted through JEE (Advanced) with an All India Rank up to 250 are eligible for this scholarship. — The Merit-cum-Means (MCM) Scholarship is awarded to UG students, providing a stipend of Rs 1,000 per month for 10 months and a refund of remaining fees, based on academic performance and financial need. — The Dr. Surendra K. Goel and Mrs. Kusum Goel Scholarship grants Rs 2 lakh per year to four economically disadvantaged UG students who enrol at the institute. The selected student will continue to avail the benefit of the scheme until they satisfy the established criteria for the scheme and graduates. — The INSPIRE SHE Scholarship from the Department of Science & Technology supports top 1% science students from their Class 12 board exams or those who have passed JEE, NEET, or KVPY exams. This scholarship provides support from UG to PG for students in science streams at recognised institutions. — AlphaVerse Scholarship to support cash prizes under Corporate Social Responsibility. This is a one-time financial support. The students will be selected based on online competition. — Shraman Foundation Scholarship offers up to 60 scholarships, with a maximum of Rs. 35,000 per semester, to financially constrained undergraduate students. The amount may vary based on individual financial needs. A minimum of 15 students will be awarded, with at least Rs. 15,000 per semester. Eligible applicants are 1st and 2nd year or Dual degree students with an annual family income of less than Rs. 5 lakhs, and not receiving any other similar scholarship. — A special scholarship of Rs 1,000 each annually is awarded to two engineering students from academically disadvantaged backgrounds. To retain this scholarship, a minimum CGPA of 7.0 is required. First Published: June 26, 2025, 13:36 IST
Indian Express
6 hours ago
- Indian Express
From generating solar energy at night to AI learning tool: Meet the student winners of Gujarat's startup scheme
Think solar energy and the first thought that comes to the mind is daylight. But Saurabh Rathod, a Class X student of Government Secondary and Higher Secondary School in Ahwa, Dang, has an idea of 'Smart Solar', which is capable of generating energy even during the night. 'Unlike traditional solar panels that only work when exposed to sunlight, our smart solar panel incorporates Peltier modules, which are installed on the backside of the panel. During the day, as the solar panel heats up due to sunlight, the Peltier module captures thermal energy and contributes to power generation. At night, it continues to generate energy by utilising the temperature difference between the warm surface of the panel and the cooler nighttime environment. This innovation ensures continuous energy generation, both during the day and night, making it a more efficient and reliable solution for sustainable power,' he says. Rathod is among 175 school students from Gujarat to receive a grant of Rs 20,000 from the state government under Student Startup and Innovation Policy (SSIP). Another recipient of the grant is Chirag Joshi, a Class X student of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Moriya, Banaskantha, who has developed 'Student Super Power' — an AI-powered learning tool that helps students learn in a way that 'suits them best'. The 15-year-old says he plans to take his project forward in a big way. 'In a school setup, every child cannot get a personalised learning experience. 'Student Super Power' uses smart AI agents to understand how a student learns, identify their weak areas, create a customised study plan, teach in an adaptive way, and provide practice exercises,' he tells The Indian Express. 'This system ensures that each student gets a personalised learning experience, just like a private tutor but at a large scale. Built using AI models, it aims to make education more effective and accessible. The goal is to provide quality learning for every child,' Joshi adds. The scheme was expanded as SSIP 2.0 in 2022 to include school students from Class VI-XII for their ideas with the aim to create a 'start-up mindset' among children at the grassroots level. Till June this year, 850 projects of school students – an equal mix of government and private schools — from across the state have been approved under SSIP 2.0. The state government plans to reach 1,000 students by August and 5,000 students by the end of the first semester, by October-November, this year. Among these 850 shortlisted students, officials stated, the highest number, 175, are from Ahmedabad followed by around 125 from Surat. 'While the SSIP funds and handholds startups, SSIP 2.0 aims to build a start-up community at the school level. We are not expecting school students to create or develop a product but are encouraging them to at least have a viable idea of innovation. There are brainstorming workshops on how to create a startup. Once the ideas are approved, the grant is disbursed for which we inculcate a habit of account-keeping by the students on how much they have spent on what in creating that idea,' Ankit Thakor, the state-government appointed Startup Ecosystem Advisor and School Project Management Unit (PMU) operating under the Education Department, tells The Indian Express. On how these workshops are conducted, Thakor says, 'As part of an awareness drive, School PMU conducts startup brainstorming workshops across all districts in Gujarat. These workshops bring together students from Classes IX till XII who have already showcased notable innovations at the district, state, or national level, motivating them to assess the potential of their innovations and convert them into startups.' Under the SSIP 2.0, the School PMU aims to disburse a total grant of ₹33 crore to support over 16,000 student innovators across Gujarat by March 2027. Thakor says most of these students are actively working on their startup ideas, continuing to develop and refine their projects with consistent efforts towards transforming their innovative concepts into impactful solutions. 'We also help conduct post-workshop sessions for networking with the local startups in their districts,' he adds. -Dhwanit Mehta, Hillwoods School, Gandhinagar, has an idea to develop an application or website to create a peer group learning environment where like-minded students can study together. It also aims to provide guidance by students as well as expert teachers. Overall, the application or website is aimed to help improve the students' journey towards their final exam such as JEE, NEET, etc. -Dhruvi Mahla, Government Secondary School Khanpur, Navsari, has come up with the idea of a 'Wireless Charging Car'. As the adoption of electric vehicles continues to rise rapidly, wireless charging technology is emerging as a convenient and time-saving solution, she says. 'By eliminating the need for manual plug-in charging, the idea allows users to simply park their vehicle over a charging pad, thus saving valuable time and enhancing the overall user experience. This innovation is expected to play a significant role in the future of sustainable transportation,' she adds. -Kashish Thakkar, Aim International School, Ahmedabad, has a project 'Automatic Fire Fighting Robot' for places where sudden fire erupts and fire fighters are not able to reach the spot easily. -Het Kanjiya, Divine School, Rajkot, has come up with a 'Smart Stick' for the visually impaired that has a combined system of obstacle avoidance and GPS. Smart blind sticks are innovative and effective tools designed to assist visually impaired individuals in navigating their surroundings with greater safety and confidence. By integrating sensors, electronics, and intelligent programming, these devices enable users to detect obstacles and move independently within their environment.
The Hindu
6 hours ago
- The Hindu
From The Hindu, June 30, 1975: ‘Slide teaching' may revolutionise education
New Delhi, June 29: A revolution in education is in the offing with the development of an indigenous technology for the large-scale preparation of teaching aids by the Indian Registry of Pathology (IRP) in New Delhi. Originally developed for teaching pathology in medical colleges, the development can be adapted for the teaching of any subject in schools and colleges, it is said. The IRP technology essentially consists in the presentation of teaching material in slides. IRP is now producing black and white colour slides of autopsy specimens, whole disease organs, charts, formulas and tables as teaching material for medical students, Dr. S. Sriramachari, Director of the Registry, said. The impact on education of the 'slide technology' will be tremendous, it is said, because IRP's methods for mass-producing colour transparencies at an extremely low cost is based on the ordinary Eastman cinematographic film. So far slides have been made with conventional colour film like 'Kodachrome and Ektachrome at a cost of over Rs. 4 per slide. IRP slides cost less than 40 paise each. 'The use of cinematographic film for this purpose has ushered in a virtual technological revolution,' Dr. Sriramachari said. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has expressed interest in the IRP technology for making educational slides. What would take 15 minutes to draw on the blackboard can be shown in one slide, Dr. Sriramachari said.
