At a recent council meeting of BBMP it has been decided that five hundred air purifiers will be installed in various junctions of the city. The decision came into existence after the installation of air purifier at the Hudson Junction Circle, which has helped in capturing d dust particles, air-borne heavy metal particles and organic carbon at the junction.
BBMP will install these air purifiers at its own cost and will not spend the taxpayer’s money on this project. It has already tasked a private player, aTechTorn, for these installations.
The cost of each air purifier is 2.5 lakhs and it will be taken up as a project under corporate social responsibility. According to Rajeev Krishnan, the founder of aTechTorn, they will soon hold a meeting with BBMP engineers to recognise the ideal locations to install these purifiers.
However, the BBM has a condition for the agency: these locations should not be used for advertisement purposes. Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun has directed the BBMP commissioner to accord permission to the agency.
Rajeev Krishnan added that the current method of air-monitoring activities is overdone and is not helping us in fighting pollution. Due to development and the increasing number of vehicles, we are loosing our green cover which is the natural air purifier and curbs air pollution to a certain extent. Hence, as an alternative, we need to install outdoor air purifiers so that they can absorb particles, which trees and plants are unable to absorb.
Air purifiers have filters that absorb finer dust particles and give out cleaner air. Each purifier can cover an area falling within 60 feet of it. According to BBMP officials, the city requires the facility at 44,000 junctions.