As Delhi's air quality continues to remain toxic, a team from IIT Bombay is studying the impact of the smog tower fitted with 5,000 filters. There is more than 80 per cent reduction in the particulate matter, a chief pollutant, that enters and leaves the tower. But this is just the efficiency of the filters, it will take time to know the actual impact of the tower at a distance away, a Delhi government official said as per a report by The Hindu.
The smog tower, a pilot project, was inaugurated by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on August 23. The 24-metre-high structure has 40 big fans and 5,000 filters. The fans suck in air which is then supposedly cleansed as it passes through the filters. Delhi's Environment Minister Gopal Rai said, on November 9, that the government will execute a five-point plan, including a campaign against open burning from November 11, to reduce air pollution.
“This anti-open burning campaign will be run for a month. This is a joint drive involving the Delhi Pollution Control Committee; North, East, South Delhi Municipal Corporations; Revenue, Development, Irrigation and Flood Control Departments; Delhi Development Authority; Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) and Cantonment Board. They will crack down on incidents of open burning of waste,” Rai said.
The Minister said that these government bodies have a total of 550 teams, of which 304 teams will work during the day and the remaining 246 will patrol at night. He also said that directions have been issued to the departments to implement phase two of the anti-dust campaign, which will begin on November 12 and end on December 12.
