The air purifier at Hudson Circle was installed by aTechTron. The filters, where dust is collected, were sent ... Read More

BENGALURU: Five hundred air purifiers will be installed at various junctions in the city. The decision, taken at a recent BBMP council meeting, comes after installation of an air purifier at Hudson Circle, which has helped in capturing dust particles, air-borne heavy metal particles and organic carbon at the junction.

However, the civic body will not spend taxpayers' money for the endeavour. It has tasked a private player, aTechTron, with installing the air purifiers at its own cost.

Each air purifier costs around Rs 2.5 lakh and the entire project is likely to be taken up under corporate social responsibility. "We'll hold discussion with BBMP engineers to identify ideal locations where air purifiers can be installed," said Rajeev Krishna, founder of aTechTron.

However, BBMP has a rider for the agency: the location should not be used for advertisement purposes. Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun has directed the BBMP commissioner to accord permission to the agency.

Rajeev said: "Current air-monitoring activities are overdone and have not helped us in fighting pollution. To make room for development for the increasing population and vehicles, we're losing green cover, which acts as a natural purifier and curbs air pollution to a certain extent. We've to look for alternatives such as outdoor air purifiers given that they 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.

Hudson Circle collects 19g of dust in 8 hours

The air purifier at Hudson Circle was installed by aTechTron. The filters, where dust is collected, were sent to KSPCB- and NABL-authorised laboratories for analysis.

As per lab reports, 19.1g dust was collected in the primary filter of the Hudson Circle air purifier over a period of eight peak traffic hours. “Over a month, we have been able to capture an average of 750g to 1kg of fine dust particles consisting of PM2.5, PM10, air-borne heavy metal particles, organic carbon and other air-borne pollutants,” said Rajeev.

He added that outdoor air purifiers need to be installed at all major traffic junctions, road medians with heavy traffic and construction sites. They will help understand what exactly people are breathing, especially heavy metals , which are dangerous but not detected by widely used air pollution monitors. Identifying the particles will also help in establishing specific sources of pollution, he added.

