AIR POLLUTION CONTROL
People in Sofia will soon be able to see for themselves data on air pollution in the city. At the end of November, the city’s first electronic screen displaying data collected at four monitoring stations will go into operation. The data will come from air quality monitoring machines at Orlov Most, Hipodrouma, Drouzhba and Nadezhda. The municipality is planning to set up another monitoring station, at Kremikovtzi. The electronic data display screen will be installed at the corner of Rakovski and Moskovska streets, near Sofia municipal headquarters. The screen will show levels of the main air pollutants, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, sulphur, sulphur hydrogens, dust particles and others, their admissible concentration limits and their current quantities. The aim is to monitor the overall state of the air, the city said on October 11. The idea is to set up a network of such screens at all city key points, enabling people to check pollution levels. The city said that the data would be used to come up with a plan to contain pollution at source.

FLIGHT PATH FRUSTRATION
A group of citizens living in several Sofia neighbourhoods have raised concerns about noise from aircraft landing at Sofia Airport. The group says that they will start protests if the authorities do not respond to their concerns. The group is demanding that a new runway be built in the next three to four years. Most aircraft approaching Sofia Airport using a route above central Sofia, the Presidency, St Alexander Nevski and Vassil Levski national stadium.

CULTURE FOR CHILDREN
A project entitled “New ways in the rehabilitation of children with hearing difficulties or children with cochlear implants” finished on October 15 with a performance Leave Me On The Sky, at the Sofia Youth Theatre (Mladezhki Teatur). The project was a joint initiative of Sofia municipality, the Association of Parents with Children with Hearing Difficulties, and Viva-Integratives Kindertheater, Vienna. After the play, a documentary on the work done as part of the project was screened. The project lasted 10 months and 22 children took part in it. The idea was to enable children to develop their hearing abilities, independence, determination and responsibility through the theatre project.

PUPIL BUS PASSES
Sofia company Public Transport EOOD said on October 16 that it would issue public transport discount cards for school pupils, as is the practise every year. All pupils from the Sofia region, who are up to 20 years old, can buy the passes at preferential prices after showing their school register book and a recent photograph, and if older than 16, by showing their identity cards. Pupils can purchase a pass throughout the calendar year. The pass can be issued for one, three or six months. For all public transport lines it costs 17, 51 and 102 leva, respectively, but pupils could also obtain a pass for only for one or two routes, as prices are considerably lower.