Delhi smog tower at Connaught Place to be fully operational from October 1: Gopal Rai
The purpose of the smog tower is to help filter air and reduce pollution levels. Every year Delhi's air quality worsens during the winters.
Smog tower built at Delhi's Connaught Place at a whooping cost of USD 2 million will be operational in full capacity from October 1. Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai made the announcement on Wednesday. He informed that the trial of the smog tower was complete.
A team of scientists from IIT-Bombay and IIT-Delhi has been constituted to monitor its functioning, Gopal Rai said. The team will have five experts from IIT-Bombay and one from IIT-Delhi. The over 24-meter-high smog tower was inaugurated by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on August 23.
"The trial of the smog tower has been completed. It will be working at full capacity from October 1," Delhi Environment Minister tweeted. The Environment Minister had earlier mentioned that smog tower is a part of the Delhi government's winter action plan.
The purpose of the smog tower is to help filter air and help Delhi in its fight to reduce pollution levels. Every year the air quality in Delhi tends to worsen during the winters. To manage the city's deteriorating air quality, the Delhi government is taking a slew of measures.
The Delhi government has also announced the formulation of a detailed winter action plan for the national capital this season, for which they have roped in all state agencies in the city, with an aim to check local pollution sources.
Smog tower features
The tower has 40 fans and 10,000 filters developed by experts from the University of Minnesota in the United States.
The University of Minnesota, US also helped design a 100-meter-high smog tower in Xian province of China.
The smog tower cost the Delhi government a whopping Rs 20 crore and critics say this is a huge waste of public money.
It has been designed to purify the air in a 1km radius around it at a rate of 1,000 cubic metres of air per second.