On August 23, 2021, Delhi Government inaugurated what they claimed to be ‘India’s first smog tower’.
The inauguration was attended by CM of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal who also cut the ribbon on the tower. The project has cost 20 crore and is an almost 8 storey structure located in Connaught Place. The smog tower is supposed to help clean the air up to a radius of 1 km. It is a pilot study, the impact of which will be assessed over a period of 2 years by IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi.
Several news media outlets also reported that this was India’s first smog tower.
Fact-check:
Upon some research we found that India’s first smog tower was first inaugurated in March, 2021, in Bangalore. The smog tower was inaugurated in the Hudson Circle area of Bangalore and was developed by Nutan Labs. This too is a pilot test which will be observed by relevant authorities.
Several members of BJP accused Kejriwal was misleading the citizens as they claimed that Gautam Gambhir installed Delhi’s first air purifiers in three areas of Delhi. These air purifiers though do not work at the same capacity as the smog towers and could basically be labelled as indoor air purifiers kept outside. However, since a smog tower already exists in Bangalore, the claim that Delhi has India’s first smog tower is false.