Noida’s first anti-smog tower along DND flyway becomes operational

The 20-metre-tall anti-smog tower will cover an area of one square kilometre, and help mitigate air pollution during the winter season, said officials.

The first anti-smog tower along the Delhi-Noida-Direct (DND) Flyway near Film City in Noida became operational on Wednesday.

Noida, India - November 17, 2021: A view of Noida’s first anti-smog tower, in Noida, India, on Wednesday, November 17, 2021. (Photo by Sunil Ghosh / Hindustan Times)

The 20-metre-tall anti-smog tower will cover an area of one square kilometre, and help mitigate air pollution during the winter season, said officials.

Air pollution has reached toxic levels and filtration of the polluted air is the need of the hour, said Noida authority officials. Noida recorded an Air Quality Index reading of 345, in the “very poor” zone on Wednesday.

“If this works out well then we can build more such towers to mitigate air pollution in the city,” said Ritu Maheshwari, chief executive officer of the Noida authority.

Mahendra Nath Pandey, Union minister for heavy industries, Krishan Pal Gurjar, Union minister for state for power and heavy industries, local MP Dr Mahesh Sharma, Noida MLA Pankaj Singh, and other officials were present at the launch of this tower.

“The tower will benefit the residents and the commuters who pass through this road,” said Pandey at the inauguration.

Rupees 37 lakh will be spent on maintenance of this tower annually, said authority officials.

They said the tower was built using corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds arranged via the Central government’s public sector undertakings (PSUs). A budget of ₹2.5 crore was allocated for the project. The work on the ground started on September 25 this year after the Noida authority approved the project in its board meeting on September 24.

The tower will clean the polluted air around it and release purified air, said officials. Equipped with intake and exhaust fans, the tower will initially run with the help of electricity. The authority, however, plans to run the tower with the help of solar energy later.

Built on a green belt area of 400 square metres along the DND Flyway, the anti-smog tower will work at a filtration rate (the capacity of the tower to clean air per cubic metre) of 80,000 cubic metres per hour.

The tower will help clean pollutants in the air in Noida sectors 15, 15A, 16, 16A (Film City), 17 and 19, among others. Nearly 100,000 commuters travel along the DND Flyway and the Delhi-Noida Expressway link road, and the installation of the tower will be beneficial for them too, said the authority officials.

A machine fixed inside the tower will remove nearly 80% of the particulate matter i.e. PM2.5 and PM10 (which experts consider the primary pollutants in this region) in the air, and help bring down the pollution levels in the area, the officials added.