PCAA Installs Two Monitors In Peshawar To Check Level Of Air Pollution

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Jul, 2021 ) :Peshawar Clean Air Alliance (PCCA), a recently launched project by a group of civil society activists to find ways and measures to tackle toxic emission that pose direct threat to health and contribute to climate change, has installed two monitors in the provincial metropolis for checking of air pollution in the city.

The two monitors are donated by a PCCA member, Sophia Hasnain, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Linked Things Karachi.

The air monitors are installed at Hayatabad Industrial Estate, on the periphery of Peshawar and other at busy city area in the office of Peshawar Chamber of Small Traders on Grand Truck road.

The installed monitors are providing air quality reading round the clock and anyone can check it by visiting the link (https://data.linked-things.com/#/airquality/peshawar).

The objective of installing air monitors in Peshawar is to get exact data about level of air pollution in the city which is among the top most polluted cities of the country, shared Dr. Adil Zareef, Spokesman of PCAA.

Talking to APP here on Monday, Dr. Adil Zareef said PCAA's vision is to increase the total number of clean air days in Peshawar to over 100 a year by 2025 � primarily by cutting levels of air pollution at source, while simultaneously encouraging behavioral changes within us.

"This is the beginning of a long drawn process that will eventually encompass all major cities of Pakistan for a comprehensive Clean Air Act policy document," Adil said.

He said founder of PCAA, Rafay Alam, a known environmental lawyer and activist in Pakistan, personally visited Peshawar for installation of air monitors which has now started working and providing data.

Peshawar city, he continued, is one of the largest cities in Pakistan with an estimated population of approximately 1.9 million in 2017. In 2018, the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative found Peshawar to be the fifth most polluted city in the country, with over 183 unhealthy air quality days.

It is difficult to be more specific about ambient air pollution in Peshawar due to lack of air quality monitoring equipment and research into the health impacts of air pollution in Peshawar.

Therefore, installation of air monitors is a start of journey towards achieving the PCAA's Vision.

Its merit an insertion here that within a couple of months in its formation PCAA has also launched an online petition to garner public support for combating air pollution in Peshawar city.

The petition has so far gathered around 70,000 signatures of general public who are not only appreciating the initiative but also extending support for making air of Peshawar clean.