25/06/2006
Source: cities.expressindia.com

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board’s (MPCB) new laboratory, with state-of-the-art facilities to monitor pollution was inaugurated at Mahape, Navi Mumbai, on Sunday by Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar. While the (MPCB) has had its central laboratory at Belapur for over three decades, in the new laboratory, equipment have been significantly upgraded and many are a first of their kind in the country. ‘‘At the new laboratory, we will have equipment to deal with the current challenges posed by industrialisation and urbanisation,’’ said Dr D B Boralkar, Member Secretary, MPCB.

‘‘Now, the problem is about dealing with chemical and hazardous wastes, especially as our state generates almost half of all of the country’s industrial hazardous waste. Our old laboratory was mainly geared to deal with sampling air and water pollutants,’’ he said, referring to the previous setup at CIDCO Bhawan, Belapur. Boralkar also spoke of how the new laboratory will have a special section for calibration of instruments to help maintain the quality of data generated. ‘‘It will be the first lab in India to have a Laboratory Information Management System, with which we will be able to better analyse the links between the level of pollution and its effects on health,’’ he said.


The new central laboratory has been set up over an area of 36,000 sq ft and has been built at a cost of Rs 11.5 crore—lesser than the Rs 13 crore that MPCB had set aside for the upgradation. It was decided by the MPCB to set up the laboratory in consonance with other upgradation being carried out like strengthening of its water quality monitoring network from the current 48 stations to 250 and the quadrupling of the number of its air monitoring stations from the present 23 to 85 that has been planned this year. Work on the laboratory started in January 2005 and completed in May this year, four months ahead of schedule.

‘‘This will be the first laboratory in India with the equipment to monitor pollutants like benzene, toluene, xylene, etc. There will be facilities to detect and analyse various toxic substances,’’ said Dr A N Sagne Scientist-in-Charge, Central Laboratory. ‘‘All the tendering processes and other paper work is complete and the machines will be brought to the lab soon,’’ he said.