To tackle the city’s annual spike in air pollution during winter — when vehicular emissions and particulate matter levels get trapped in the city’s air — the Delhi Government on Friday launched an innovation challenge.
The competition, announced by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), invites practical and scalable technologies that can either capture particulate matter from ambient air or help curb emissions from older vehicles, particularly those compliant with BS-IV norms or below.
Calling the challenge an ‘ innovation mission’ for a broader clean-air campaign for the national capital, Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said, “Our ambition is bigger: we want every day to be a clean-air day. Enforcement alone won’t get us there; this is a 24×7 innovation mission.”
He called out individuals, start-ups, research institutions, or large technology developers for ideas that would work on the road, construction, and industrial sites to curb the levels of PM2.5/PM10 — one of the key contributors to the city’s pollution load.
Expanding on the selection criteria, the Minister noted that the Department would assess ideas based on their real-world applicability, particularly in Delhi’s climatic conditions. Cost-effective, high-impact innovations would receive the highest scores, while “flashy, unaffordable” solutions would rank the lowest.
Sirsa highlighted specific areas the government is targeting for effective, affordable, and field-ready solutions, including road coatings that trap tyre dust, tailpipe capture devices, rooftop air-flow tunnels over moving traffic, advanced construction-dust control systems, and industrial particulate-matter reduction technologies.
“We want maximum participation and maximum practicality,” Sirsa appealed during the launch of the contest, which will be open to the applicants until October 31.
Closing the launch, Sirsa affirmed, “If a solution can cut PM, install easily, and fit Delhi’s budget, we will take it from trial to citywide use.”