Pics: Umesh Marpalli
Daijiworld Media Network-Udupi (HB)
Udupi, Mar 15: District in-charge minister Pramod Madhwaraj inaugurated air quality monitoring station in the campus of Board High School here on Wednesday, March 14.
Addressing the gathering, Pramod Madhwaraj said, “If the attachment between humans and environment is good, the world will be peaceful. If there is conflict between this, we humans, will be defeated. If humans go against nature, it will show its rage through natural calamities, strong wind, and flood and in many other ways.
“Bhutan is a model country in the world because it is a carbon positive country and eco-friendly country. In Bhutan, 70% of land is covered with forest. They are not allowed for fishing, no sand extraction and no cutting trees. They have a great conscience for greenery and nature.
“A survey says that Bhutan is the happiest country out of 200 other countries in the world. If we maintain cleanliness in our surroundings, everything will be better. We need to learn a lesson from Bhutan,” he said.
The air quality monitoring station has been installed in Udupi to create awareness about environment pollution among public. A well equipped monitoring centre is built at a cost of Rs 1.36 crore. KSPCB has taken measures to set up 29 air quality monitoring stations in Karnataka. Two centres have already started functioning in Dharwad and Mangaluru. Five such centres have been installed in Bengaluru and remaining 24 centres will be installed in each district namely Chikkamagluru, Ramnagar, Kalburgi, Yadgiri, Haveri, Gadag, Koppal, Karwar, Belgaum, Bidar, Raichur, Bagalkot and Bijapur. By end of March, all centres will start functioning.
Off late, Udupi has witnessed a great change in urbanization and industrialization.
These centres will monitor the air quality at particular area with the help of sensors and will display RPM level, ozone, Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons, Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Ammonium (NH3), Benzene (C6H6), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) and other contents in the air. There are also machines for detecting air speed, pressure, moisture and temperature.
These centres will also be developed as research centre for school going children.
Lakshman, president, Karnataka state pollution control board, Bengaluru, Jayaprakash Nayak, senior scientist and Dr Nagappa senior scientist were present.