NEW DELHI: A group of environmentalists has written an open letter to the Supreme Court, urging it not to direct the Centre or states to spend public money on “expensive” and “inefficient” smog towers as they will only benefit the manufacturers.
Earlier this week, the apex court asked the Centre to take concrete decision within 10 days on having smog towers in Delhi-National Capital Region to combat pollution, which risks public health.
The direction had come after pollution levels in Delhi peaked to a three-year high notwithstanding claims of heightened checks by authorities.
“India’s leading air pollution scientists and researchers unanimously say that outdoor air purifiers are inefficient to the point of being useless,” Jyoti Pande Lavakare, co-founder of Care for Air India, a nonprofit advocacy group, wrote.
“Please don’t direct any governments, local, state or central to spend public money to buy expensive smog towers. These are ineffective in bringing down PM2.5 levels and may even add to pollution when the dirty filters are disposed of in landfills and burnt,” it said.
China had last year set up the world’s largest air purification tower in the city of Xi’an.
Sarath Guttikunda, co-director, UrbanEmissions.Info and Care for Air India expert, said, “Delhi’s airshed is around 80 km x 80 km. If you assume the city to be a box, its atmospheric height is at least 1 km (3 km in summer).
"At an average wind speed of 2 m/sec, the volume of air passing through the city is more than 5 trillion cubic metre per hour. The capacity of the smog tower in Xi’an is a fraction of that.”
(With PTI inputs)