Odd-Even phase II: Govt plan to collect air quality data with mobile van hits stumbling block

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The Delhi government had planned to collect data prior to the start of the odd-even scheme with this van, and other technology. The van is the only mobile real-time air quality monitoring technology deployed by the government.

Sources said the “critical” component in the van faced technical failure, and a replacement had been ordered from abroad.

“This is likely to arrive in another two days. After that the van will start functioning from April 14 or 15,” an official associated with Nevco Engineering Private Limited, the company which owns and runs the van, said Monday. “It is unfortunate that this problem has occurred. We are confident that the part will be replaced and the maintenance issues will be completed. The van will definitely be ready to start collecting data by April 15, before the scheme starts,” he added.

Watch | Odd-Even Phase II Scheme

The van had been tasked with covering 15 spots on the Ring Road around the same time every day from April 6 to April 30 to get data on pollutants like PM 2.5, PM 10, NO2, Ozone, CO, among others.

A senior official in the environment department said, “The van is having some technical issues, which we hope will be resolved soon because it is one of the superior technologies and the data we get is real-time. But it is not the only technology we are relying on. We are also collecting data from air quality samplers and other handheld devices.”

The same van had monitored air quality in over 200 spots during the first phase of the odd-even scheme in January. Scientists said this time the van was being restricted to localised areas to evaluate the impact of the scheme, and to rule out weather and temperature factors. “We are trying to cover the same locations every day at roughly the same time, along a fixed route to get an idea of how pollutant levels vary before and during the odd-even scheme,” said an official.

For the second phase of the odd-even scheme, the Delhi government’s environment department started collecting data on air quality before the start of the scheme for comparative data.