This Diwali, Amdavadis are ready to celebrate a dhamakedar Diwali with fewer Covid cases and relaxed curfew hours. Despite serious concerns about air pollution, the city’s eight SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research) boards displaying the air quality index have been out of order for the past six months.
It was in Ahmedabad that the first Indian monitoring and early warning system for air pollution was launched on May 12, 2017. The boards were installed at eight air quality monitoring sites in Ahmedabad – Bopal, Satellite, Airport, Pirana, Rakhial, Chandkheda, Raikhad and GIFT City.
The plan was to make ‘air quality index’ known to citizens through LED screens across the city, as part of what is called the Air Information and Response plan. While the current AQI and the next day’s pollution forecast can be accessed even on SAFAR-Air app as well, it must be mentioned here that AMC had spent approximately Rs 10 lakh-12 lakh on each SAFAR display board, said sources.
And though SAFAR has been accepted internationally with peer-reviewed Elsevier Journal publishing its findings, no attention has been paid to ensure the LED display boards are up and running.
The display board placed near Stadium circle in Navrangpura has been out of order for a year now. Likewise, the LED display placed near Vastrapur Lake is also not working. This is the situation in most areas where these boards have been installed.
According to AMC sources, last Diwali, on November 14, 2020, the city recorded an overall AQI of around 259 including 235 in Navrangpura, 328 in Pirana, 159 in Rakhial, 365 in Raikhad, 307 in Chandkheda, 176 in Bopal, 319 in Satellite and 324 in Airport. Diwali 2019 saw a lower AQI of around 102 whereas the year before it was 315.
AMC’s Deputy Health Officer Dr. Chirag Shah said, “As the central government’s meteorological department is responsible for maintaining all the boards of the Safar project in Ahmedabad, we are not aware if they are working or not.”
The concerned official at the meteorological department could not be reached for a comment.
SAFAR project was executed in collaboration with Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, Ministry of Earth Science, Government of India, Indian Meteorology department, Earth System Science Organisation and Global Atmosphere Watch.
No air purifiers in city
Ahmedabad has been receiving information about AQI for the past five years and while display boards have been installed at eight locations, no effort has been made by the AMC to improve the city’s air quality.
Two years ago, AMC had planned to install air purifier machines across the city after installing it near the Pirana dump site. However, the plan did not take off. Recently, AMC appointed an agency to conduct a survey to improve the city’s air quality.
