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IIT Guwahati to offer technical assistance to curb pollution in Assam

GUWAHATI: Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IIT Guwahati) experts will offer technical assistance to Pollution Control Board, Assam (PCBA) to undertake city-specific interventions and action plans to prevent air pollution problems in Guwahati, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sivasagar and Silchar in Assam, where particle levels (PM10) exceed the annual average (60 microgram per cubic meter) ambient air quality standards.




IIT Guwahati has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the PCBA to tackle air pollution in the important cities and towns. The MoU was signed recently under the National Clean Air Program (NCAP) launched by the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEF&CC). The MoU was signed between professor Sharad Gokhale from the department of civil engineering of IIT Guwahati and DN Das, member secretary of PCBA, along with other officials from IIT Guwahati and the PCBA.

"The current levels of PM10 and PM2.5 in Guwahati and other cities of Assam are alarming and show increasing trends. Asthmatic condition among children is on the rise. In light of this, I welcome the move of MoEF&CC as NCAP will create more awareness among the public and help strengthen the capacity building activities to tackle particulate pollution in the selected cities of Assam," said professor Gokhale.

IIT Guwahati is, therefore, he said is committed to extending technical assistance to the PCBA in improving the air quality monitoring network and carrying out technical studies to develop a suitable city-wise air quality management plan, which we will convert into an implementable action plan for the selected cities of Assam.

A statement issued by IIT Guwahati on Friday said that the main objective of the MoU signed will be to prepare city-specific interventions and action plans, targeting about 20 to 30 percent reduction of PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations by 2024, to be implemented by PCBA. IIT Guwahati is the technical partner and will assist PCBA in carrying out air pollution studies like identifying critical sources, building state-of-the-art air quality monitoring networks, and investigating mitigations in the five identified cities and implementing them with the help of PCBA.

IIT Guwahati has been ranked second in the 'Swachhata Ranking' conducted by the government of India and the picturesque campus is on a sprawling 285 hectares plot on the north bank of the river Brahmaputra, around 20 kms from the heart of the Guwahati city has been transforming itself into a green campus with over six thousand students and state-of-the-art infrastructure.

Statistics revealed by the premier technology institute recently stated that buildings occupy 31 percent of the campus, while 14 percent is occupied by water bodies and the rest of the campus is under green cover including the hillocks, allowing its residents to breathe in clean and fresh air .

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