There has been virtually no sunshine in Delhi for the past week due to a thick blanket of haze shrouding the city. While cold weather conditions prevailed in the national capital with a dense layer of fog, visibility has also been affected due to ‘very poor’ air quality in the city.
Despite hazardous air quality levels in Delhi and its neighbouring areas, the smog tower located in the city’s Connaught Place remained ‘locked up’.
The Rs 23 crore-smog tower, which was inaugurated by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in 2021 amid much fanfare, is not operational because the personnel responsible for its operations ‘locked it’ due to non-payment of their salary for December 2023, according to a report by India Today.
The tower comes under the jurisdiction of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) and a private organisation named Vibgyour Consulting has been given a contract to operate it.
Vibgyour Consulting has tasked a 13-member team to operate the tower.
“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,” Mahipal Bisht, one of the staff members told India Today.
“But later we were not paid our salary on time and our December salary has not been paid yet. Above this, our company has not received any job confirmation from the Delhi government,” he added.
The team members claim they were given no written ‘job guarantee’ from the Delhi government.
“Finally, we only had one option to lock the smog tower,” said Bisht.
Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded at 321, in the ‘very poor’ category, on Saturday, according to Central Pollution Control Board data. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.
The staff members running the tower also shed light on the dearth of basic facilities, such as drinking water and an accessible toilet in the facility.
“Even basic tools like pliers and screwdrivers are not available, and we are also not provided any safety gear,” Vivek Uniyal, an electrician who was also part of the team, said.
The team members also claimed that the smog tower was not working at its full capacity.
“The majority of the 5000 filters installed in the tower are old and need a change,” one of the members said, according to the report.
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