Ecological plan need of the hour, not smog towers
2 years ago

Ecological plan need of the hour, not smog towers

Hindustan Times  

This has probably been the line flying out at Mumbaikars from the internet, social media, newspapers or articles lately. “An air pollution management protocol should have been triggered by the government when the bane continued well into February - nine of the first 17 days showed “very poor” air quality. This protocol should have included capping dust-producing activities like construction” An air pollution management protocol should have been triggered by the government when the bane continued well into February - nine of the first 17 days showed “very poor” air quality. A thorough ecological plan that guides city growth must be part of the long-term strategy, not momentary and superficial solutions like smog towers. We must also bring all the departments together to fight the menace of air pollution and not work in silos, which fosters effective handovers and inter-departmental cooperation.

Mumbai Construction Pollution Air Plan Bmc Dust Towers Smog Towers  air  quality  protocol  dust  towers  construction  smog  ecological  bmc  hour  plan  solutions  pollution  need

History of this topic

Tackling air pollution is an economic imperative, not just a health crisis
6 days, 5 hours ago

Tackling air pollution is an economic imperative, not just a health crisis

Live Mint  

Even as air pollution chokes Indian cities, nearly ₹858 crore allocated by the central government for pollution control in 2024-25 remains unspent. Meanwhile, Delhi’s 2025-26 budget proposes ₹300 crore for emergency pollution control measures and a new command centre to monitor air and water quality. From 11-13 November last year, at the peak of the pollution crisis, Artha Global’s Centre …

India’s novel attempts at battling deadly air pollution are falling short
Trending News
3 months, 2 weeks ago

India’s novel attempts at battling deadly air pollution are falling short

Live Mint  

NEW DELHI—As the skies turned hazy with pollution this winter, a giant outdoor purifier sat dormant in the Indian capital’s central business district. The Delhi government said the smog guns and drones were part of emergency measures to combat pollution during winter months and that the country’s top court had ordered the construction of the smog tower. Environmental experts said …

Delhi smog: Life in the world’s most polluted city
4 months, 2 weeks ago

Delhi smog: Life in the world’s most polluted city

CNN  

New Delhi CNN — Inside Delhi’s first ever clinic dedicated to pollution-related illnesses, Deepak Rajak struggles to catch his breath. The specialist clinic at Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohiya hospital was set up last year to treat the growing number of patients affected by hazardous air pollution, which worsens every winter in the Indian capital. “We were at the bus stop, …

Anti-smog tower near DND flyway removed without notice; activists question efficacy
4 months, 3 weeks ago

Anti-smog tower near DND flyway removed without notice; activists question efficacy

Hindustan Times  

Set up at a cost of ₹2.5 crore, Noida’s first and only anti-smog tower, set up near the DND Flyway just three years ago on a pilot basis to help combat air pollution, was removed by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited recently owing to technical faults, prompting environmentalists to question the tower’s effectiveness and the lack of transparency about its future. …

Delhi’s smog tower impact too little, too close: Report
1 year, 4 months ago

Delhi’s smog tower impact too little, too close: Report

Hindustan Times  

A Delhi Pollution Control Committee team on Wednesday restarted the anti-smog tower at Connaught Place, a day after the Supreme Court ordered the administration to immediately operationalise the 24-metre tall, giant air purifier fitted with fans and an array of filters. The smog tower at Connaught Place was installed following an apex court order on January 13, 2020 at a …

Delhi Environment Minister seeks suspension of officer who halted smog tower project
1 year, 4 months ago

Delhi Environment Minister seeks suspension of officer who halted smog tower project

The Hindu  

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai wrote to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on November 4, seeking the suspension of Delhi Pollution Control Committee chairman Ashwani Kumar for "arbitrarily halting" the operation of a large smog tower installed at Connaught Place two years ago to mitigate air pollution. Mr. Rai mentioned that two smog towers were installed in Delhi — at Connaught …

Connaught Place smog tower has ‘noticeable impact’ on air pollution: Gopal Rai
2 years, 5 months ago

Connaught Place smog tower has ‘noticeable impact’ on air pollution: Gopal Rai

The Hindu  

The smog tower installed by the Delhi government in Connaught Place has a “noticeable impact” on reducing air pollution within a 300-meter radius, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Friday. Mr. Rai said that based on data collected over a year, the smog tower was found to have reduced air pollution within a 50-meter radius by 70-80% and within a …

Smog towers not final solution to pollution, says Central Pollution Control Board official
2 years, 10 months ago

Smog towers not final solution to pollution, says Central Pollution Control Board official

The Hindu  

Technologies such as smog towers are interventions that are still being tested and are not a final solution to the problem of pollution, Prashant Gargava, Member Secretary, Central Pollution Control Board, said at a webinar on Wednesday. To address Delhi’s exorbitant winter level pollution, smog tower — that consists of a large fan, housed in a tower to suck in …

In a flux over smog towers
3 years, 2 months ago

In a flux over smog towers

The Hindu  

A walk of up to one km in three different directions from the smog tower in Connaught Place with a handheld air quality monitoring device has revealed fluctuating levels of the chief pollutant, PM 2.5. What is interesting is while the air closest to the tower should be cleanest, the device recorded the opposite in several instances — falling pollution …

Bad air: Ad hocism won’t work anymore
3 years, 3 months ago

Bad air: Ad hocism won’t work anymore

Hindustan Times  

It’s December in Delhi, and as the city is blanketed by a brown soup of air pollution again, a familiar storyline is playing out. Questions are raised about whether air pollution could be harmful, even cause death, with the Union government responding that there is too little evidence on the health impacts of air pollution. Persuaded by the visibly deteriorating …

Delhi smog tower cleans air, but test continue on efficacy and range
3 years, 3 months ago

Delhi smog tower cleans air, but test continue on efficacy and range

Hindustan Times  

Preliminary data submitted by the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay to the Delhi Pollution Control Committee shows a 50-60% reduction in PM 2.5 concentration, but only between the inlet and the outlet of the smog tower installed at Connaught Place earlier this year. Experts have long argued that smog towers are not a long-term solution to Delhi’s air pollution problem, …

Here's why it is easier to put up a smog tower, but difficult to curb air pollution in Delhi
3 years, 4 months ago

Here's why it is easier to put up a smog tower, but difficult to curb air pollution in Delhi

Firstpost  

If we want to reduce air pollution in Delhi, our focus has to be on reducing coal and biomass burning and tackling land degradation and desertification in Delhi-NCR, and in neighbouring states. What we burn the most, pollutes the most | | 2019-20 | Pollution potential Coal and lignite 1,045 High Biomass for cooking 500 Highest Petroleum products 240 Medium …

Delhi has got its first smog tower, but why many experts are not impressed
3 years, 7 months ago

Delhi has got its first smog tower, but why many experts are not impressed

India Today  

Delhi’s air pollution has been a matter of worry for years now and several attempts have been made by governments to control it. Just ahead of this season, the Delhi government has inaugurated its first smog tower at Baba Kharag Singh Marg in Connaught Place, but many environmentalists say this kind of project can’t provide a permanent solution to a …

Smog tower to be functional after monsoon: govt. official
3 years, 7 months ago

Smog tower to be functional after monsoon: govt. official

The Hindu  

The smog tower inaugurated by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday to fight air pollution will be functional after monsoon as the filters for it will be fitted only after the rainy season ends, a government official said. After inaugurating the smog tower at Connaught Place on Monday, Mr. Kejriwal had said that similar towers would be built in other …

Delhi’s Smog Tower Before Diwali Is Only for Optics, Science Be Damned
3 years, 7 months ago

Delhi’s Smog Tower Before Diwali Is Only for Optics, Science Be Damned

The Quint  

The Chief Minister of Delhi has inaugurated India’s first-ever smog tower in the heart of the city to help combat rising air pollution in the national capital. For a city that has been bogged down with smog every winter, being proactive, getting technology to fix the problem shows the government in the right light. These quick-fix solutions continue to find …

New Delhi opens first ‘smog tower’; expert says ‘absolute waste’
3 years, 7 months ago

New Delhi opens first ‘smog tower’; expert says ‘absolute waste’

Al Jazeera  

Move aims to reduce the air pollution blamed for thousands of premature deaths every year, but experts are sceptical. India’s capital New Delhi has opened its first “smog tower”, aimed at reducing the air pollution blamed for thousands of premature deaths every year, but experts are sceptical. Concentrations of tiny deadly particles in New Delhi’s air regularly exceed safe limits …

Smog tower to help India’s capital breathe, but experts sceptical
3 years, 8 months ago

Smog tower to help India’s capital breathe, but experts sceptical

Al Jazeera  

Forty giant fans to push out filtered air in the heart of New Delhi’s posh downtown shopping district. A new attempt at purifying New Delhi’s notoriously polluted air will see 40 giant fans push out filtered air in the heart of the Indian capital’s posh downtown shopping district. But the $2m “smog tower” has no shortage of doubters who say …

Pollution control measures key in big development projects: Experts
4 years, 2 months ago

Pollution control measures key in big development projects: Experts

Hindustan Times  

Smog towers and smog guns are likely to be integral features of air pollution mitigation efforts for all major development projects in future, especially in cities with high air pollution. The Supreme Court, in its judgment on the Central Vista redevelopment project, directed on Tuesday that “the project proponent may set up smog tower of adequate capacity, as being integral …

Delhi Air Pollution: SC Directs Completion Of Smog Towers Construction In 10 Months [Read Order]
4 years, 7 months ago

Delhi Air Pollution: SC Directs Completion Of Smog Towers Construction In 10 Months [Read Order]

Live Law  

The Supreme Court has granted ten months for that the completion of the construction of smog towers in Delhi for the purpose of curbing air pollution.This was after the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change and the Department of Environment & Forests, Government of NCT of Delhi undertook before a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra that the work …

Install smog towers at Connaught Place, Anand Vihar in three months: SC
5 years, 2 months ago

Install smog towers at Connaught Place, Anand Vihar in three months: SC

India TV News  

The Supreme Court has given three months to the Centre and Delhi government for the pilot project of setting up a 'smog tower' at Connaught Place and Anand Vihar here, while issuing a slew of directions to combat the menace of air and water pollution. Smog towers are structures designed as large-scale air purifiers to reduce air pollution.A bench of …

Delhi Smog Towers: Solution to Pollution or Waste of Public Money?
5 years, 3 months ago

Delhi Smog Towers: Solution to Pollution or Waste of Public Money?

The Quint  

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday, 9 October, announced that the Delhi government has taken a decision to build a smog tower in the capital’s Connaught Place to fight the pollution crisis, touted to be worth Rs 20 crore. The CM said that this would be India’s first smog tower and would be one of two smog towers coming …

Delhi smog: Here's what Beijing did to curb air pollution
7 years, 4 months ago

Delhi smog: Here's what Beijing did to curb air pollution

India TV News  

As thick smog is hovering over Delhi, the government has taken some solid yet temporary measures to curb the air pollution. In such an emergency situation when people are choking on toxic smog, Aam Aadmi Party government has ordered schools to shut down to keep kids away from the adverse effects of severe air pollution. NGT in its crackdown on …

India in search of clean air: The story of air pollution in India
10 years, 1 month ago

India in search of clean air: The story of air pollution in India

The Hindu  

SATURDAY February 7 was voting day in the capital city of Delhi. Surely a day in which air pollution would be minimal, you would think—and so a welcome respite from the almost continuously contaminated atmosphere that residents of Delhi have had to get accustomed to. Officially, half of our towns and cities have “critical” levels of atmospheric pollution, and one-third …

Discover Related