10th September 2023, Mumbai: The Yogi Adityanath government is taking significant steps to ensure pollution control and monitoring in areas falling under the Defence Industrial Corridor in the districts of Lucknow, Kanpur, and Aligarh. The Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) has initiated a process to select laboratories affiliated with the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change (MoEF), and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for the regular monitoring of environmental parameters in these regions.
The state government aims to select a suitable laboratory
The monitoring will focus primarily on five critical environmental standards, including air quality, noise levels, groundwater quality, soil quality, and groundwater levels. The state government aims to select a suitable laboratory from among the applicants by September 11, and this laboratory will subsequently invite tenders to select an agency responsible for ongoing monitoring of the specified parameters in the Defence Industrial Corridor areas of Lucknow, Kanpur, and Aligarh.
The UPEIDA may choose to distribute the monitoring work among one or more laboratories.
The contract for monitoring will initially be for one year, with the possibility of extension based on performance. The UPEIDA may choose to distribute the monitoring work among one or more laboratories. In addition to continuous monitoring, the selected laboratory will provide periodic reports to assess and ensure compliance with the environmental standards. For air quality monitoring, the labs will conduct around-the-clock measurements of particulate matters (PM-10 and PM-2.5), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and other nitrous components. Furthermore, noise pollution levels will be monitored both during the day and at night.
Soil quality testing will involve assessing the SAR
The monitoring of water and ground pollution levels will encompass a wide range of parameters, including acidity, alkalinity, aluminum, arsenic, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), bicarbonates, calcium carbonate, chloride, chromium, copper, iron, lead, magnesium, manganese, nickel, nitrogen compounds, sulfates, sodium, and zinc. Soil quality testing will involve assessing the SAR (specific absorption rate) value, ammonia levels, bicarbonates, boron, calcium, calcium carbonate, chloride, color, electrical conductivity, magnesium, nitrates, nitrites, pesticide presence, pH levels, phosphates, sodium, potassium, cadmium, manganese, cobalt, and soil samples.
All monitoring activities will be carried out in accordance with the standards set by the pollution control boards. The Defence Industrial Corridor was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 21, 2018, with an investment of ₹20,000 crore, aimed at boosting industrial development in the Bundelkhand region, considered one of the most economically disadvantaged areas in the state.
By Yashika Desai