Delhi's first smog tower will be ready by Aug 15: Rai

The national capital is all set to get its first smog tower by August 15, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Thursday, adding that its construction had been delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The 25-meter structure will address 10 points, ranging from dust pollution, vehicle pollution to pollution caused by stubble burning in neighbouring areas.

New Delhi:Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Thursday said Delhi's first smog tower at Connaught Place will be ready by August 15. The Delhi cabinet had approved the project in October last year. The 25-metre-tall structure, being set up to improve air quality in a radius of around 1 km, was supposed to be ready by June 15.

“The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the construction work of the smog tower, the first-of-its-kind in India, at Baba Kharak Singh Marg. The work is being expedited. The ambitious project will be ready by August 15. China also has such smog towers, but this one works on different technology. The ones in China suck the polluted air from the bottom and release the clear air from the top, whereas this smog tower works in the opposite direction,” Rai told reporters here.

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The smog tower at Connaught Place will be able to purify 1000 cubic metres of air per second, the minister said. He also said many experts have different views about the efficacy of smog tower. “This is a pilot project. Experts will study its outcomes and thereafter, the government will take a call on building more such structures,” he said.

Tata Projects Limited (TPL) is implementing the Rs 20-crore project on the ground with technical support from IIT-Bombay. The National Building Construction Corporation India Ltd. has been appointed as project management consultant.

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PTI