The Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) will be implementing artificial intelligence (AI) and remote sensing technology to detect key sources of air pollution through satellite image and real-time monitoring. The initiative is a collaborative undertaking between the BSPCB and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The BSPCB chairman Ashok Ghosh and India-based representative of the UNDP, Shoko Noda, virtually signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), for the same, on Tuesday. This MOU will give BSPCB access to use UNDP's Geo AI Platform. The platform was developed by UNDP's Accelerator Lab and the University of Nottingham.

Elaborating on the function of artificial intelligence, Ghosh said, “It is a first-of-its-kind application used by the state government to tackle environmental concerns effectively. The remote sensing technology will enable us to track down such brick kilns which have not been converted to the zigzag setting design along with the identification of areas where stubble burning is taking place and heavy vehicular emission across the state.”

“Of the total 6,000 brick kilns, 70% have adopted the cleaner technology while the rest are still using the banned traditional method. Most of the brick kilns are situated in remote areas making it difficult to inspect manually,” said Ghosh.

The move comes to fulfil the Central Pollution Control Board of India (CPCB) directive issued in 2017, mandating brick kilns across India to convert to the less polluting zigzag design. 

According to the BSPCB, brick kilns cause 14% of the air pollution in the state, while domestic burning is responsible for 22% of the air pollution. Transportation, dust, industry, waste burning and diesel generators contribute 19%, 15%, 14%, 11% and 5% to air pollution, respectively.