Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday recommended the immediate suspension of the DPCC (Delhi Pollution Control Committee) chairman Ashwani Kumar to Delhi LG VK Saxena.
Row over smog tower costs DPCC post to Kumar
The development came three days after Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai wrote to Kejriwal, seeking the suspension of Kumar for "arbitrarily halting" the operation of a large smog tower installed at Connaught Place two years ago to mitigate air pollution.
In the letter to Kejriwal, Rai also sought disciplinary action against the project in-charge, Anwar Ali, whom the minister accused of changing his stance on the smog tower's effectiveness under pressure from Kumar.
Rai mentioned that two smog towers were installed in Delhi -- at Connaught Place under DPCC and at Anand Vihar under the Central Pollution Control Board -- following the Supreme Court's directions.
Kumar, who assumed the role of DPCC chairman in December, stopped the release of funds to IIT-Bombay and other agencies working on the project without informing the government, which Rai considered a contempt of court.
"I would like to propose the suspension and disciplinary action against Ashwani Kumar, Chairman DPCC, for acting in contempt of the Hon'ble Supreme Court's directions, not implementing the council of ministers' decision, arbitrarily halting operations and maintenance payments, failing to make decisions based on the merits of the study and presenting them before the Cabinet, and not reopening the smog tower after the monsoon months, which prevented the formation of clean air zones at a time when pollution levels are expected to rise," Rai wrote.
Kejriwal had inaugurated the more-than-24-metre-high smog tower at Connaught Place on August 23, 2021. The city government had formed a team of experts from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay to study its impact over two years. Officials had previously said that the smog tower, built at a cost of Rs 20 crore, could purify the air in a one-kilometer radius at a rate of around 1,000 cubic metres per second. The smog tower has 40 large fans that draw air from the top of a special canopy structure and release clean air below.
