The two giant smog towers have not been able to make any significant contribution to reducing the national capital’s air pollution levels, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has informed the National Green Tribunal (NGT) through its report dated November 8. The DPCC recommends the towers at Anand Vihar and Mandir Marg be used for “dissemination of the technical information about control of air pollution as a museum”. Taking consideration of a news item published by The Indian Express based on a report by IIT-Bombay, the DPCC has informed the NGT that over 47,000 such towers will be required to tackle Delhi's pollution, which it said is not practical. The IIT-Bombay study showed there is little to no improvement in ambient air quality after installation of the two smog towers. The DPCC said that though the towers were installed to curb air pollutants in a radius of 1 km, that desired objective could not be met and the impact is limited to only 200 m. “As evident from the final report of IIT-Delhi that percentage reduction recorded at a distance of 200 m was only between 13.5-15%, which is not significant,” the DPCC stated, adding that “it is not even a drop in an ocean”. The DPCC also said the towers are not economically feasible, as each tower costs Rs 25 crore. “Air shed of Delhi is not limited to the boundaries of Delhi state. Delhi is surrounded by states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Delhi has an area of 1,483 sq. km… 10 to 17% reduction in a 100 m radius per tower that too at the capital cost of Rs 25 crore with a recurring cost of Rs 10 to 15 lakh per month per smog tower is not at all justified,” the DPCC said in its report. According to the DPCC, Both towers were experimental and its results are not encouraging to incur the heavy expenditure of public money.
