The smog tower, inaugurated by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in 2021 amid much fanfare, is ‘locked up’ again as Delhi continues to be engulfed in smog. Even though the national capital and surrounding areas have hazardous air quality levels, the Rs 23 crore smog tower in Connaught Place is not operational. The smog tower has been shut down after the employees in charge of its operations ‘locked it’ due to nonpayment of their December 2023 salary. The personnel claimed that they had not received a written ‘job guarantee’ from the Delhi government.
It is to be noted that the task of running the smog tower was assigned to a 13-member team from a private company called Vibgyour Consulting. The smog tower was shut down for a long time earlier, before it was opened on the orders of the Supreme Court in November 2023.
“This tower is under Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC), and our company, Vibgyour Consulting, was operating this tower,” Mahipal Bisht, one of the staff members, told India Today.
“But in April 2023, operations of the tower were stopped. But after the Supreme Court rebuked the Delhi government in November (2023) to start this tower, we were called by DPCC and on November 8, again the tower was operationalised, but later we were not paid our salary on time and our December salary was not paid yet and above this our company has not got any job confirmation from Delhi government. Finally, we only had one option to lock the smog tower,” Bisht added.
Staff members also mentioned a lack of basic amenities, such as drinking water and an accessible toilet.
“Even basic tools like pliers and screwdrivers are not available, and we are not provided with any safety gear,” Vivek Uniyal, an electrician on the team in charge of running the smog tower said.
Moreover, several staffers also mentioned that the smog tower was not operating at full capacity. “The majority of the 5000 filters installed in the tower are old and need to be replaced,” one of the members told India Today.
Back in August 2021, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had inaugurated the smog tower boating to be the country’s “first” to curb pollution. CM Kejriwal had said that this smog tower in Connaught Place made with American technology would reduce pollution in the air.
बधाई दिल्ली। प्रदूषण के ख़िलाफ़ युद्ध में दिल्ली में देश के पहले स्मॉग टावर की शुरुआत की। अमेरिकी तकनीक से बना ये स्मॉग टावर हवा में प्रदूषण की मात्रा को कम करेगा।
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) August 23, 2021
पायलट आधार पर शुरू हुए इस प्रोजेक्ट के नतीजे बेहतर रहे तो पूरी दिल्ली में ऐसे और स्मॉग टावर लगाए जाएंगे। pic.twitter.com/gqgh0MzyuJ
However, the smog tower Kejriwal boasted as a weapon in the “war” against pollution has largely been unused or inoperational. It is worth mentioning that during the peak pollution time in Delhi last year, two smog towers in the national capital were inoperative. Consequently, in November last year, the Supreme Court summoned DPCC chairman Ashwani Kumar to shut down the smog towers and directed him to ensure its operation. Hearing air pollution petitions at the time, a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia said Delhi cannot be made to go through this year after year.
