Chennai: This Diwali, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) will monitor pollution levels using 60 stations that were set up last year across all 15 zones for a study in collaboration with IIT-Madras.The stations, equipped with low-cost sensors, were set up at four locations in each zone and collected ambient noise levels in the city from Mar to Dec 2025, day and night. TNPCB partnered with the institute in Sept 2024 to map noise levels in cities with population exceeding a million, and piloted it with Chennai.“We have extended the period of observation by one more year. The sensors will also track noise levels during Diwali. For a city like Chennai, which sees high noise during the festival, a more stringent monitoring is required,” an official with the TNPCB said.“Pursuant to the study in Chennai, we are also looking to set up the sensors in other cities, including Coimbatore, Trichy and Salem,” the official said.Environmentalists welcomed the move, but said data from all the stations should be made public. “Additionally, the sensors’ calibration must be checked. The data released must be representative of the whole city and not just a few places,” said G Sundarrajan, environmentalist, Poovulagin Nanbargal.
