Efficiency of smoke tower in Delhi still unclear

New Delhi: Nearly seven months after its installation, the impact of the smog tower on purifying the air at different distances from the tower is still unclear. However, the Delhi Government said on Tuesday that an initial assessment of the tower’s impact is expected to be reported in the next two months. 
Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Tuesday that the efficiency study of the smog Tower in Central Delhi is being studied and its report will come after May.
Speaking on the issue the minister said that IIT Bombay and Delhi Government are studying the impact of the smog tower installed at Connaught Place.
“Teams led by IIT Bombay and Delhi government have been given the task to study the impact of smog tower. They will submit their analysis in a report after May,” he added.
The smog tower, installed by the Delhi government on the Supreme Court’s orders, near the Shivaji Stadium Metro station was inaugurated on August 23 last year.
Meanwhile, Rai also said that the state government is closely monitoring the progress of real-time source apportionment study and forecasting pollution study
“We are expecting the initial report of this project to be submitted by August,” he said.

The project, called ‘real-time source apportionment study and pollution forecasting’, was approved by the Delhi Cabinet last year, and the Delhi government had signed a memorandum of understanding with IIT-Kanpur for the study. The project is expected to help pinpoint sources of air pollutants in the city.

It is meant to gauge the contribution of different sources like vehicular emissions, biomass burning, stubble burning, dust and industrial emissions to air pollution in Delhi. The pollution forecasting system is likely to provide hourly, daily and weekly forecasts on air pollution.