Week After SC Rap, Delhi Pollution Control Panel Says Smog Towers Not 'Practical Solution'

Nandita Moitra, a senior scientist at DPCC said the smog tower built at Connaught Place is capable of mitigating air pollution by up to 17 per cent within a 100-metre radius only.

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) in a report submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) last week said two experimental smog towers in the city have not been effective in reducing air pollution and the operation of the air purifiers lacks merit. It also emphasised that smog towers is not a "practical solution" to the air pollution problem and that both the structures in Delhi should be re-purposed for the "dissemination of technical information on air pollution control as a museum," reported news agency PTI.

The Supreme Court had pulled up the AAP led Delhi government last week over the smog tower being inoperative amid pollution in the national capital. After the directive, the tower at Connaught Place was repaired and made operational.

Nandita Moitra, a senior scientist at DPCC said the smog tower built at a cost of Rs 25-crore at Connaught Place, and operational for two years, is capable of mitigating air pollution by up to 17 per cent within a 100-metre radius only, reported PTI.

Given the 1,483 square kilometres area of Delhi, the pollution control body said that with such an operational capacity, the city would need 47,000 smog towers. It also said that each tower would cost Rs 25 crore for installation and would require Rs 15 lakh it operational upkeep.

The Supreme Court had in 2021 directed the Delhi government to install smog towers after which one was set up  at Connaught Place by DPCC, while another was built at Anand Vihar by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). 

The Delhi government said last year that the Connaught Place smog tower could reduce air pollution by 70 to 80 per cent within a radius of 50 metres and by 15 to 20 per cent up to 300 metres, reported PTI.