Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal inaugurated the country’s initial smog tower at Connaught Place on Monday to enhance air high quality in the national capital. Kejriwal stated if the pilot project proves to be productive, it would lead to many such structures becoming installed in the city.
The installation and inauguration of the smog tower come months just before the city’s pollution levels spike as a outcome of farmers burning crop waste.
Smog towers are created as big air purifiers. These towers have various layers of air filters and fans to suck in air. The air is then purified by the filters and re-circulated into the atmosphere.
The 20-m tower at Connaught Place can enhance air high quality inside a 1-km radius. Constructed at an estimated expense of Rs 20 crore, the tower at Connaught Place will come to be functional at complete capacity at the finish of the monsoon. Rai had earlier stated the Connaught Place tower would purify 1,000 cu m of air a second.
A comparable tower has been installed at Anand Vihar, a pollution hotspot. The 25-m tower will come to be operational by August-finish, the Central Pollution Control Board had stated.
Tata Projects Limited constructed each the towers in collaboration with IIT Delhi and with technical help from IIT Bombay. The smog towers are comparable to these installed in China, which had tested the technologies in Beijing and some of its other polluted cities.
According to a report released in March, Delhi was ranked as the world’s most polluted capital city for the third straight year in 2020 on the basis of air high quality in terms of PM 2.5 levels.
Delhi has struggled with serious air-pollution, which peaked in 2017 on each the PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels. This resulted in visibility going down, causing many accidents, which includes a 24-car pileup on the Yamuna Expressway.
Emissions from motor automobiles are amongst the key causes for the city’s poor air high quality. Although pollution levels are worst among November and February, Delhi’s air consists of a mix of car emission, waste byrunning, and building dust. Fire at the Bhalswa landfill and fire-crackers wealthy in heavy metal also lead to serious air pollution.