To improve air quality, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation to place 100 purifiers near Pirana

With the aim of improving air quality in the city and decreasing air pollution levels, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has decided to place 100 pollution cleaning machines near the Pirana landfill site.

Recently, the civic body had submitted a detailed plan before the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) to improve the air quality in the city. With immediate effect, 100 such air purifiers will be placed near Pirana.

"With the help of air quality monitoring units, we are receiving real-time air pollution data of Ahmedabad city. One such machine has been placed at Pirana which shows the highest pollution level, more than any of the other centres," said a senior AMC official.

"This is because the largest dumping site's location is surrounded by many industries. This causes the emission of toxic gases. To control the pollution levels, the heavy air purifiers will be placed in that locality which will help in decreasing air pollution level," said the official.

These machines will be bought as per the short-term plan to reduce air pollution. The civic authority has decided to take action to decrease the rising levels of PM2.5 and PM10 in the air in the next six months.

The other measures the AMC has decided upon are construction of wall-to-wall roads and cleaning of roads mechanically. Construction sites have also been directed to undertake constant watering to suppress the dust particles that cover such sites.

Among other measures, the civic body has decided to transform the city buses into electric-powered ones. In the coming days, the authority will strengthen CNG infrastructure and will set up a new system for the electrical buses. The AMC aims to run 1,000 electric buses in the next three years.

On Tuesday, PM2.5 level of Pirana was recorded at 230 which falls in the poor category while PM10 was recorded at 160. Overall air quality index of the city was 186 while PM2.5 was 61 and PM10 was 106.