Similipal fire shines light on dark hole in India’s real-time air quality monitoring network

By Avikal Somvanshi

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Forests in Odisha’s Similipal have been burning for last two weeks, and while there are multiple means to track and monitor these fires, gaping holes exist in monitoring its public health impact. One of them is rather obvious — real-time air quality monitoring and public communication of bad air under National Air Quality Index initiative intended to enhance public awareness to improve air quality.

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Wildfires have become a summer staple, thanks to climate change. These fires are an environmental catastrophe, but most of us fail to realise that they are a public health emergency as well. Smoke from these fires can travel beyond the fire lines and choke millions of people residing in cities.

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Similipal forest wildfire is similar to ones that are now annual occurrence in Indonesia and California. The wind has been blowing north and east, so it is possible that the smoke from Similipal wildfires would be impacting air quality in Jamshedpur in north or Kharagpur in east or both.

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Dedicated funds to combat air pollution in cities are linked with monitored air quality and this monitoring lapse is a handicap these cities don’t need. More importantly, people need to know the air quality in their areas to safeguard their health.