Babul Supriyo: Centre to install air purifier towers to curb air pollution in Delhi-NCR

The Central Government has decided to deploy a large-scale air-purifying system named Adaptive Clean Air Network, which will be a pilot demonstration for a smog tower in the capital and its adjoining areas. The decision has been taken with an aim to combat the menace of air pollution in Delhi and the national capital region.

Babul Supriyo's statement in the Lok Sabha

"The technological suggestions for combating air pollution are evaluated in coordination with the Department of Science and Technology for the examination of the feasibility," Babul Supriyo, Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, said in Lok Sabha on Saturday. He further stated that a proposal titled "Project for Demonstrating the Feasibility of Reducing Air Pollution Exposure in Urban Area by Using Large Scale Cleaning System" was submitted by the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) to control air pollution with the help of EPC (Environment Protection Charge) funds.

Supriyo stated that several measures were tried 

Responding to a question posed by Delhi MPs Parvesh Verma and Manoj Tiwari on the work done by the Environment Ministry to curb pollution in the capital, Supriyo stated that several technologies for mitigation of air pollution which inter-alia includes Deployment and Evaluation of Air Purification Units for Traffic Junction Pollution Abatement were tried. "The Control of Dust Emissions using dust Suppressant, Demonstrate the effectiveness of Air Pollution Mitigation by Pariyayantra Filtration, Multiple antenna high-density ion generators for pollution control were also used," added the Union Minister.

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SC pulled up governments to take action over pollution

The Delhi government has been taking multiple steps to counter the increasing pollution levels in the National capital, including implementation of the Odd-Even scheme in early November. It has also made multiple requests to the Chief Ministers and the governments of neighbouring states to stop stubble burning. However, it could not alleviate Delhi's pollution woes. The Supreme Court took cognizance of the issue and pulled up the governments to take immediate action in order to solve the problem of increasing pollution. A  Supreme Court-mandated panel - Environment Pollution (Prevention) and Control Authority (EPCA), on November 1 had declared a public health emergency in the Delhi-NCR region. The panel had ordered a temporary ban on construction activities as well as a ban on the burning crackers for the entire winter season.

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(With ANI inputs)