Govt looking at bus-roof mounted Air Purifiers to cut pollution in big cities

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh today said the Government is exploring the potential of Bus Roof Mounted Air Purification Systems to capture particulate matter in the highly polluted cities.

In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), a Statutory Body under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has installed Pariyayantra Filtration units on top of 30 buses to filter dust in Delhi-NCR.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, CPCB conducted pilot trials of various new technologies for management and improvement of air quality in Delhi-NCR through premier institutions. A pilot study was conducted on the deployment and evaluation of Wind Augmentation and Purifying (WAYU) units for traffic junction pollution abatement in Delhi. He said, under this study, 54 units were installed which operated at five traffic intersections in Delhi i.e., ITO, Anand Vihar, Shadipur, Wazirpur Chowk and Bhikaji Cama Place for reducing air pollution.

A pilot study was conducted on control of dust emissions using dust suppressants. Under this, application of dust suppressant (salts of calcium/magnesium and bio additives) was done at three sites: Sarai Kale Khan road, DDA construction site at Narela and Dilshad Garden flyover to Shaheed Nagar metro station to check the control on dust emissions. A negative ion generator was installed at IIT Delhi, Sonipat campus for assessing the impact of generated Negative Air ions (NAIs) on ambient air quality. Further, two experimental pilot projects of smog towers, one at Anand Vihar by Central Government and another at Connaught place by the Delhi Government has been commissioned to reduce particulate air pollution.

The Minister said, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research – Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CSIR-CECRI), Karaikudi and CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI), Nagpur are engaged in the R&D activities to address air pollution issues in Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai.

The Department of Science and Technology has supported a Research & Development (R&D) project for the development of an indigenous photonic system for real time remote monitoring of air quality parameters.