Delhi’s Air Purification Tower, envisioned to battle air pollution, hit a snag—it ain’t working because salaries are overdue.
New Delhi: Delhi’s Smog Tower is no longer functional, all thanks to delayed salaries. It’s indeed a matter of concern, as this tower has the huge responsibility of fighting the city’s intense air pollution. This has created a wave of concern among people and environmental activists who thought this tower was a step forward in purifying Delhi’s poisoned air. It was made operational in November last year after the Supreme Court directed the government to repair it and make it operational, as per a report by news agency ANI.
AAP Leader Saurabh Bhardwaj Blames Centre
Speaking on the matter, Delhi Minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj said that the officials are following the orders of ministers because they are aware of inactions against him as “powers have been given to a few officials.”
“Today all powers have been given to a few officials and now they are working as per their wish. First, they closed the smog tower but when the court scolded them, the smog tower was made operational. Now, I don’t know under what circumstances it has been closed. Officials are not following the orders of ministers because they know that no action will be taken against them,” he said while speaking to news agency ANI.
The Delhi minister further alleged that the smog towers have been locked ‘deliberately’ by the central government.
“I think this mismanagement is being deliberately spread by the central government,” Bhardwaj added.
GRAP Sub-Committee Unanimously Revokes Stage-III With Immediate Effect
Keeping in view the disruptive nature of restrictions under Stage III of GRAP impacting a large number of stakeholders and the public, as well as considering the significant improvement in the average AQI of Delhi, the GRAP Sub-Committee unanimously decided to revoke Stage III of GRAP in the entire NCR with immediate effect in the last week.
Delhi’s average Air Quality Index (AQI) clocked 346 as per the daily AQI bulletin provided by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
“In view of significant improvement in the average air quality of Delhi, the Sub-Committee for operationalization of actions under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) of the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR & Adjoining Areas (CAQM) met today to review the current air quality scenario in the region as well as the forecasts for meteorological conditions and air quality index made available by IMD and IITM and accordingly take an appropriate call on the preventive and restrictive actions under Stage-III of GRAP already in place in the entire National Capital Region (NCR) since December 22, 2023,” as per a press release from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
While comprehensively reviewing the overall air quality parameters of Delhi-NCR, the Sub-Committee observed that the AQI of Delhi has been progressively improving and has been recorded as 346 at 4:00 P.M. which is about 55 AQI points below the threshold for invoking the GRAP Stage-III actions (Delhi AQI 401–450), and there is a likelihood of sustaining the improvement in AQI.
(With inputs from agencies)