NEW DELHI: Environment minister Gopal Rai on Friday said the smog tower installed at Baba Kharak Singh Marg near Connaught Place can cut down air pollution by 70-80% within a range of 50 metres and 15-20% within 300 metres. He was inspecting the smog tower inaugurated in August 2021 by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. Though Delhi government has not yet disclosed the complete data regarding its efficiency, a statement from Rai’s office gave a generalised figure. Recently, information sought through an RTI application revealed that a similar tower at Anand Vihar could bring down PM2.5 levels by only 13% in December up to 100 metres in a certain direction. The tower at Connaught Place was installed at a cost of Rs 22.9 crore, while Rs 2.6 crore was spent on its maintenance and operation by the environment department. The minister said a team of experts from IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi and DPCC was continuously monitoring the two-year pilot project by running the fan of the smog tower on different capacities, weather and distances to understand its impact. “The team submitted its first report after completion of one year. The report states that the average performance of the smog tower in reducing pollution is 70-80% up to a distance of 50 metres. However, when the distance is increased to 300 metres, its impact is reduced to 15-20%. We have observed that smog towers have shown a noticeable impact up to a range of 300 metres. Beyond that, there’s minimal impact for several reasons,” said Rai. Rai added that the team would continue its study for another year and submit the final report based on which future course of action would be taken. “I’m optimistic that they will be successful in indigenously developing technology through their research to develop low-cost smog towers suitable for Delhi’s conditions,” he said.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/cp-smog-towers-impact-noticeable-says-rai/articleshow/94868257.cms
