The Delhi government has signed an MoU with IIT-Bombay and Tata Projects Limited to construct a smog tower in Connaught Place following Supreme Court orders, officials said.
The smog tower is a 20-metre-high structure fitted with several air purifiers to clean the air. The Supreme Court had last month hit out at the Centre and State governments for missing the deadline of April 13 for completing the construction of two smog towers in the city.
“The smog tower would be completed in 10 months as per the MoU. The government has identified a 45x40 metre land for the tower and land preparation has also been done,” a Delhi government source told The Hindu. The Central government has also signed a similar MoU with IIT-Bombay.
The source said that IIT-Bombay will be the technical consultant, NBCC will be the project management consultant and IIT-Delhi will also assist in the project. Drawings will be provided by the University of Minnesota.
The MoU signed by the Delhi government is similar to the one done by the Central government and the project is expected to cost around ₹19 crore.
Clean air
To control air pollution, the Supreme Court on January 13 ordered the Delhi government to build a Smog Tower at Connaught Place by April 13. On the same day, the court also ordered a smog tower to be installed in Anand Vihar by the Central Pollution Control Board in the same time. But work is yet to begin and even the MoU was not signed till the Supreme Court stepped in last month.
On July 29, the SC threatened contempt action against IIT-B on learning that the premier institution has opted to pull out of a court-ordered project to instal the smog tower.
