NEW DELHI: Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Friday said that the smog towers installed in the national capital have significantly reduced air pollution levels within a distance of 50 metres, and had a noticeable effect up to 300 metres.
“The government’s smog towers are reducing air pollution by 70-80 per cent up to 50 metres and have a noticeable impact in reducing pollution up to 300 metres,” Rai said during a visit to the smog tower in Connaught Place. He noted that beyond the 300-metre range, the towers are not that effective because of several reasons.
The city got two air purifying structures in 2021, following the directions of the Supreme Court in 2020 to the Delhi government and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) after the annual stubble burning caused a spike in AQI levels.
The Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay then submitted a proposal to the CPCB. The smog towers were to be installed under testing mode at Anand Vihar and CP by April 2020 but the project got delayed due to the pandemic.
Meanwhile, a senior official of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) had, in a recent interview to this newspaper, said that the first-of-its-kind smog towers were installed as a research project and were initially not able to attain their full efficiency in 2021.
“It was designed for 90 per cent filtration efficiency but we were able to get only 50-60 per cent efficiency during the peak pollution days last year. Its efficiency depends upon several factors, including wind direction and wind speed,” Dr. Anwar Ali Khan, an environmental engineer at DPCC, said, adding that IIT-Bombay recently sent some recommendations on how full efficiency can be attained. “This winter season will be the reality test for the tower as we have adopted the measures recommended by IIT-Bombay,” he said.
The towers are expected to achieve 80 per cent efficiency this year.