Supreme Court: Gopal Rai directs officials to submit IIT-Bombay report on working of Delhi smog tower before SC

NEW DELHI: Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai on Thursday directed officials to submit the final IIT-Bombay report on the working of a smog tower in the city before the Supreme Court without any further delay. In a communication to the principal secretary (environment), Rai said he had directed to submit the final report prepared by IIT-Bombay on the working of the smog tower before the apex court so as to decide on further continuing of its operations.
“It has come to my notice that the said report has not been submitted before the Supreme Court for consideration till date,” Rai’s communication read.
“In view of the above and considering that the winter season is approaching fast, the final report on the working of the smog tower prepared by IIT-Bombay be submitted before the Supreme Court without any further delay,” it added.
The smog tower at Baba Kharak Singh Marg in Connaught Place was installed by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) on the directions of the Supreme Court and started operations in August 2021.
It was conceived as a research and development project, among an array of solutions, to help address the seasonal pollution problem in Delhi, the communication from Rai said.
Following the Supreme Court’s directions, the Delhi government decided to set up a smog tower at Connaught Place as a two-year pilot study with DPCC as the nodal agency for coordination and supervision.
“IIT-Bombay and IIT-Delhi were supposed to analyse the performance efficiency of the tower. Tata Projects was engaged for construction and O&M (operations and maintenance) and NBCC was engaged as project management consultancy,” according to Rai’s communication.
The total sanctioned cost of the project was Rs 20.42 crore.

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