Delhi Minister Seeks Suspension Of Officer Who Halted Smog Tower Project

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai wrote to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday, seeking the suspension of Delhi Pollution Control Committee chairman Ashwani Kumar for "arbitrarily halting" the operation of a large smog tower installed at Connaught Place two years ago to mitigate air pollution.

In the letter to Mr Kejriwal, Mr Rai also sought disciplinary action against the project in-charge, Anwar Ali, whom the minister accused of changing his stance on the smog tower's effectiveness under pressure from Kumar.

Mr Rai mentioned that two smog towers were installed in Delhi -- at Connaught Place under DPCC and at Anand Vihar under the Central Pollution Control Board -- following the Supreme Court's directions.

Mr Kumar, who assumed the role of DPCC chairman in December, stopped the release of funds to IIT-Bombay and other agencies working on the project without informing the government, which Mr Rai considered a contempt of court.

"I would like to propose the suspension and disciplinary action against Ashwani Kumar, Chairman DPCC, for acting in contempt of the Hon'ble Supreme Court's directions, not implementing the council of ministers' decision, arbitrarily halting operations and maintenance payments, failing to make decisions based on the merits of the study and presenting them before the Cabinet, and not reopening the smog tower after the monsoon months, which prevented the formation of clean air zones at a time when pollution levels are expected to rise," Mr Rai wrote.

Chief Minister Kejriwal inaugurated the more-than-24-metre-high smog tower at Connaught Place on August 23, 2021. The city government had formed a team of experts from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay to study its impact over two years.

Sharing the smog tower's data, Mr Rai had said last year that the giant air purifier could reduce air pollution by 70 to 80 per cent within a radius of 50 metres and by 15 to 20 per cent up to 300 metres.

Officials had previously said that the smog tower, built at a cost of Rs 20 crore, could purify the air in a one-kilometer radius at a rate of around 1,000 cubic metres per second.

The smog tower has 40 large fans that draw air from the top of a special canopy structure and release clean air below.

In October, Mr Rai alleged that the Delhi government's first-of-its-kind study to determine pollution sources in the national capital was unilaterally halted on the orders of Mr Kumar.

The Delhi Cabinet had approved the study proposal in July 2021 and signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with IIT-Kanpur in October 2022.

The estimated cost was more than Rs 12 crore. The Delhi government had released Rs 10 crore to IIT-Kanpur for the procurement of necessary equipment and setting up a centralised supersite for data collection.

However, in February, Mr Kumar made a file note expressing concerns about the "substantial expenses associated with the study" after several meetings with IIT-Kanpur scientists, Mr Rai claimed.

On October 18, Mr Kumar issued orders to stop the release of the remaining funds to IIT-Kanpur, effectively cancelling the study, he said.

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