Air purifiers installed at high traffic volume points

Outdoor air purifiers were installed in clusters at three crowded locations of the city on Wednesday, as part of the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority’s

Outdoor air purifiers were installed in clusters at three crowded locations of the city on Wednesday, as part of the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority’s (GMDA) Project Air Care.

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Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday inaugurated the GMDA venture through videoconferencing. Six purifiers were installed at the Sector 44 traffic junction, just ahead of the GMDA offices, besides 11 devices in the vicinity of the Sikanderpur Metro station and another 10 around Iffco Chowk on Wednesday.

The purifiers — wind augmentation and purification units (or Wayu) — have been developed by researchers at the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (Neeri) and the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Sunil Kumar, a senior scientist at Neeri involved with the project, said, “When used in clusters, these devices can provide cleaner air to people in a vicinity of about 500 metres. They are effective at reducing tailpipe emissions in high-traffic areas, such as traffic intersections, bus bays, parking lots and so on, where idling vehicles are a huge source of air pollution.”

Kumar said, “The device doesn’t just filter out pollutants like PM2.5 and PM10 particles, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds, but chemically breaks them down and releases carbon dioxide as a by-product. It can reduce 60-70% for PM10 and 30-40% for PM2.5 at traffic junctions, but efficiency will depend on the pollution load and size distribution of particulate matter in the ambient air.”

Under the CSR-funded project, 65 outdoor air purifiers are expected to be installed at key locations across the city by early next year, officials in the GMDA’s urban environment division said.

“About 38 more devices will be installed within the next two months at Rajeev Chowk, Vatika Chowk, Atul Kataria Chowk, Cyber City and Genpact Chowk, among other places. We will also make sure to cover industrial areas like Udyog Vihar, so we can get a sense of what the situation is like there. A Neeri team will continue to analyse data from the Wayu units and share the chemical analysis with us,” said Subash Yadav, a metropolitan green planner with the GMDA’s urban environment division.

Speaking at the launch of Project Air Care on Wednesday, Khattar said, “The rising levels of air pollution in Haryana, especially Gurugram, is a case of serious concern among all of us. As we move towards the festive season, we would like to bring some relief to citizens with the installation of multiple Wayu air purifiers at strategic junctions. I welcome this public-private partnership… and urge other corporates to join the movement in building a clean and green city.”

Day-to-day maintenance of these Wayu units, which require weekly filter changes, will be taken up by the CSR partners concerned, along with Neeri and an independent NGO working in the field of air pollution.