NCCR to help pollution board develop plan to prevent coastal pollution: Govt

New Delhi: National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) and Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) of Ministry of Earth Sciences collect real-time information on coastal water quality, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Thursday and added that pollution boards have been asked to take the assistance of NCCR to develop an action plan for prevention of coastal pollution.

In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, the minister said that the data is attained by deploying water quality buoys in the coastal waters of off-Chennai Kochi and off-Puducherry.

Singh added that the data is shared with the respective State Pollution Control Boards. “The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has instructed all the coastal State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) and the Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) of the Union Territories to take the assistance of NCCR to develop an action plan for prevention of coastal pollution.”

He said that NCCR has taken up several initiatives to augment the scientific and research capabilities. “It is establishing the state of art water quality laboratory at Visakhapatnam. Along with the traditional methods of identification and analysis of biological samples, advanced techniques like use of molecular tools are being employed. NCCR is collaborating with leading oceanographic institutes of the world.”

In a response to another question in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said that India Meteorological Department (IMD) has introduced the seamless forecasting system since 2021 monsoon season and currently the forecasts are issued for a season to a month, a fortnight, a week and a few days in advance.

Singh added that the IMD issues seasonal forecast for monsoon season in two stages, on 15 April and 1 June. “It also issues forecast for every month, on the first day of the month or the last day of the previous month. It issues forecast in the Extended range every Thursday valid for next fortnight, short to medium range, daily valid up to seven days for meteorological subdivisions, districts and blocks, and nowcast valid up to three hours at district & station level.”

He said that the monthly and seasonal forecasts are being issued for the different regions of the country in the terms of spatial distribution of rainfall, temperature probability, rather than limiting to a single value/category of rainfall for the entire country as a whole.