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Gurugram: Under the ‘Cleaner Air and Better Health’ (CABH) project supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Signature Global (India) Limited and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) today announced the deployment of a first-of-its-kind air quality monitoring network in Gurugram. The network comprises of 9 air quality monitors and 1 automatic weather station, the data from which will be available to project developers and the research team through a dashboard that will capture pollution concentrations during different on-site construction activities. The network will strengthen regulation of pollution activities on construction sites and promote clean construction practices.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Pradeep Aggarwal,Founder & Chairman, Signature Global (India) Ltd, said, “The government has had to impose occasional blanket bans on construction activities every year in a bid to reduce air pollution. These bans, in turn, have led to project delays and impacted all stakeholders, including homebuyers, investors, and developers. Henceforth, we have partnered with CEEW to explore innovative ways to mitigate air pollution on construction sites and embrace cleaner construction practices. We hope that this pilot sets a new precedent for clean and green construction practices and encourages other real estate developers to follow Signature Global’s lead in adopting similar pollution-monitoring and control methods”

Commenting on the MoU, Dr Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, CEEW said, “In India's rapidly expanding urbanscape, construction and demolition activities represent an important source of air pollution. A construction site, by virtue of its proximity to existing living spaces, can have an outsized role in residents' exposure to pollution. Monitoring air quality around construction sites and introducing protocols that promote self-regulation by the industry and demonstrate their best practices is an important first step in mitigating this large source.”

The pilot is part of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Signature Global (India) Ltd. and CEEW to collaborate on finding solutions to reduce air pollution from construction activities under the CABH project. The CABH project aims to mitigate the impacts of air pollution in India by working on different approaches to reduce exposure, empower communities by driving awareness to build their agency to take preventive actions, and improve evidence with respect to the issue through research and interventions on ground.

Recently, Haryana State Pollution Control Board issued a public notice directing all project sites of more than 500 square meters to install reliable PM2.5 and PM10 sensors to measure microscopic fractions of particulate matter or PM (a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets) in the air, which cause serious health problems when inhaled.  In response to this, CEEW and Signature Global’s pilot will aid pollution monitoring, developing a dust management plan, and also, wherever possible, nudging the behaviour of construction workers and builders to better manage construction dust and reduce local air pollution.

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