Daijiworld Media Network - Hyderabad (SHP)
Hyderabad, Nov 8: To tackle the issue of air pollution, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) set up outdoor air purifying units across required locations in the city. The firm that sent the proposal, Strata Enviro intends to provide GHMC with 500 of these units in its first phase.
On November 7, GMC approved Strata Enviro's proposal. The purifiers will be set up at three locations in the city – Gachibowli, Jubilee Hills and Panjagutta, where pollution is on the rise due to traffic. The function of the air purifier will be to filter polluted air and release fresh air. The cost of each unit ranges from Rs 50,000 to Rs 12 lac depending on the capacity.
As per the AQI index the quality of air for Hyderabad on Sunday in certain locations ranged from 91 to 154. An AQI value over 100 is deemed unhealthy for sensitive health groups.
The managing director of Strata Enviro, Amol Chaphekar, believes that the air purifiers will help bring down the issue of air pollution. Chaphekar assured that the technology works and has been effectively functioning. "The first two years after forming the company in 2016 went in trying to prove that the technology works. Our air filtering system is patented and has been proven successful in Mumbai and Delhi. In Delhi the air purifiers have been mounted on buses; when the bus stops due to traffic, the air purifier becomes operational and cleans the air. We even got a grant from the department of Science after they were satisfied with our project," Chaphekar said.
"They are best located at traffic signals, railway stations and bus stands where a maximum number of people are moving around," he added.
Concerning the funds for the machine, Chaphekar asserted that funds can be availed through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model or it can be fully funded by the municipality. He claimed that air purifiers will boost sustainability. The operation and maintenance of the air purifiers will be done by the Strata Enviro on a contract basis. The technology of the purifiers is such that they only require cleaning once in three months.
However, GHMC has kept the Pollution Control Board in the dark concerning their decision to install these air purifiers. The Chief Environmental Scientist with the Hyderabad PCB, Murali Mohan said, “The GHMC has not consulted us as of now. The location where the pollution is monitored, those locations have to be taken into consideration for installing these units, their performance also should be monitored. These machines require frequent maintenance for them to be efficient, we have no idea if this works.”