Anti-smog guns mandatory for construction sites with area over 5,000sqm

The Delhi government, in addition to using anti-smog guns at construction sites, has also been using them at busy traffic intersections in the winter months.

Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai on Tuesday said anti-smog guns are now mandatory for all construction sites in Delhi with an area over 5,000sqm, with one such device to be installed for every increase in 5,000sqm of area.

An anti-smog gun is a cannon-shaped device designed to reduce air pollution locally by spraying a fine mist-like spray into the air, which can settle dust and other pollutants.

An anti-smog gun is a cannon-shaped device designed to reduce air pollution locally by spraying a fine mist-like spray into the air, which can settle dust and other pollutants.

“In Delhi, earlier it was mandatory to install an anti-smog gun on sites with an area greater than 20,000sqm, but now there is a modification in this provision and construction sites with an area over 5,000sqm will also need to install anti-smog guns. For every 5,000sqm increase in area, an additional smog gun will be required,” Rai said.

The minister said Delhi’s 15-point action plan on air pollution will be released by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on September 30 -- a day before the revised Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) comes into effect.

“We had held a high-level meeting of 30 departments of the government on September 5 to tighten the noose on pollution. In that joint-meeting, all the departments were given a unique goal to be inculcated in the winter action plan. On September 15, we held another joint meeting of these departments wherein all of them submitted their action plans to the environment department, which is now ready to implement the plan. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will present this 15-pointer winter action plan in front of the people of Delhi and all government departments will act in unison for its implementation,” said Rai.

This year, Grap will be implemented based on forecasts and has been linked to the air quality index (AQI) instead of PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels, as in previous years. There will be four categories of the level of pollution, based on which action will be taken -- Poor (AQI 201-300), Very Poor (AQI 301-400), Severe (401-450) and Severe Plus (AQI 450+). For categories Very Poor until Severe Plus, action will have to be taken by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) at least three days in advance, using forecasts by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) and India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The Delhi government, in addition to using anti-smog guns at construction sites, has also been using them at busy traffic intersections in the winter months. In 2020, 23 anti-smog guns were installed by the public works department at busy traffic intersections, while 20 such devices were used last winter.