The Kolkata Municipality had planned to install smog towers to control pollution in the city. But on the advice of a scientist from the Bose Institute, he canceled the plan to set up such a tower.
Abhijit Chatterjee, scientist of Bose Institute, asked to cancel the option of installing this tower. In his words, ‘I have heard that initially smog towers will be installed in the city. After reporting this news, I contacted Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Earlier I was associated with Kolkata Municipality for a project. After following my advice, the municipality canceled the plan to install smog tower.
Mayor Council Debashish Kumar said that two such towers have been installed in Delhi. Each of which costs Rs 20 crore. The annual maintenance cost is Rs. Other cities like Delhi are also planning to install such towers. But scientists have questions about its effectiveness. He admitted that scientist Abhijit Chatterjee’s plan to install the tower was scrapped.
How do these smog towers work?
It converts fine and ultra fine dust into coarse grained dust. This machine is designed in the form of a tower in such a way that it draws atmospheric air from above like a vacuum and then releases the filtered air through its vents. (you can read Calcutta Municipality: Monthly expenditure of only tea in the head’s office is 35 thousand: report,
what other experts are saying
According to Rajeev Khurana, a trustee of the Long Foundation, questions are being raised about its effectiveness outside the home. He said, ‘The smog tower is actually a giant air purifier. Such things work in the house. According to him, building one or two smog towers will not be of any use to control pollution in the city of Kolkata. A few lakhs should be kept. Which is subject to heavy cost. Rather if it can be controlled at the source of pollution itself then it is an effective step.
Echoing the words of scientist Abhijit Chatterjee, KV George, scientist at the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, said, ‘Even if these purifiers work 100 per cent, they will not be effective for large amounts of pollution in the air.’