Almost exactly one year after a scientific paper in respected international peer-reviewed open access journal Atmosphere stated in no unc...
Almost exactly one year after a scientific paper in respected international peer-reviewed open access journal Atmosphere stated in no uncertain terms that smog towers do not work for cleaning outdoor air, two giant, 24-metre-high 40-fan piece of equipment that claims to do just that have come up in the capital city, an ode to the politicisation of India’s air pollution.
Built by Tata Projects Ltd in consultation with the NBCC Ltd, based on a patented design owned by the University of Minnesota under the reluctant supervision of IIT Bombay, the first one was inaugurated in Connaught Place with great fanfare by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on August 23, triggering a war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party, with both trying to take credit for the “first” smog tower in Delhi.
Not to be left behind and using the occasion of the United Nations-designated International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies on September 7, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav of the BJP inaugurated the second tower exactly a fortnight later in East Delhi’s even more polluted Anand Vihar area.
Unscientific and inefficient
Neither party has paid attention to the fact that no impact assessment study was done before setting up the towers, no reputable...
