New Delhi: The Supreme Court has asked Centre to begin work at the earliest for the installation of smog tower at Anand Vihar in east Delhi. The court has also asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to apprise about the time frames by August 10 after he told a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra that setting up of the smog tower, would take 10 months.

In January this year, the court had directed that smog tower be installed at Anand Vihar and that the project should be completed within three months. It had also suggested the use of anti-smog guns in Delhi and national capital region (NCR) for large construction sites, road construction stretches, mining activities, large parking sites on unpaved areas and during large public gatherings, demolition activities etc.

Soon after, IIT Bombay which was supposed to complete the project backed out of it. The apex court had expressed its displeasure and said this was "not expected of such institutions.

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The report also said that the centre had informed on July 30, that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been prepared for the installation of smog tower and it would be signed by the stakeholders soon. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Funds had earlier said that an amount of  Rs 18.52 crore have been sanctioned for the project.

What are smog towers?

Smog towers are structures designed as large-scale air purifiers to reduce air pollution particles. These structures take in air and then cleans it by remove airborne particulate matter. The structures are fitted with large scale fans that suck the air which then goes through layers of filters that trap the particles.

In 2017, Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde had designed a prototype that was installed Tianjin, China, and Krakow. These structures used ion-based technology and could be within a radius of more than 10 metres. According to media reports, the towers can purify 30,000 cubic meters of air per hour. The tower in China's Xi’an in Shaanxi province is one of the largest ones in the world.

Can it reduce air pollution in Delhi?

In January, this year a prototype air purifier was installed in Lajpat Nagar in the national capital. According to a report by PTI, the tower was capable of treating 6,00,000 cubic metres of air per day and can collect more than 75 percent of particulate matters (PM) 2.5 and 10. A report by Indian Express says that the Supreme Court had asked for towers to be built in Anand Vihar and Connaught Place.

But according to experts and even the designer Daan Roosegaarde these towers cannot work alone to reduce pollution instead there has to be a comprehensive plan. Economist and a professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Ila Patnaik said in an article by The Print that smog towers alone cannot solve the problem.

She wrote that without addressing social issues such as bursting crackers in Diwali or resolving issues of stubble burning in Haryana and Punjab the smog towers will not be able to help much.