Indian Express

To keep eye on pollution, unit to be put up on CM’s house

Posted online: Wed Feb 20 2013, 00:52 hrs
New Delhi : In an effort to prove that pollution affects the rich and the powerful as much as the common man and the homeless, a court-appointed body is working to put up an air monitoring device on Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s house.

The monitor would specifically detect levels of ground-level ozone, which is created when sunlight interacts with emissions from vehicle exhaust, chemical solvents and other sources and turns it into an imminent, floating hazard.

At a conference on air pollution last week, Sunita Narain, member of the Supreme Court ordered Environmental Pollution Control Authority, called ozone an equalizer because it drifts to areas that are less polluted — in most cases, the more affluent areas in a city.

“The rich and powerful often assume they can just roll up their windows and avoid the hazardous atmosphere. But ozone levels are often higher downwind of the precursor source. Dikshit had specifically asked for a monitor to be put at her house,” Narain had said.

Dikshit has agreed to the experiment. “I am happy to get this air-monitoring device installed at my residence. This is an excellent method to gauge air pollution levels in Lutyens’ Delhi,” she said.