IIT Delhi establishes centre to study air pollution

New Delhi: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi on Friday inaugurated a Centre of Excellence for Research on Clean Air (CERCA) to help scholars devise solutions to fight air pollution and promote scientific research in the field. It has been set up with the help of institute's alumnus Arun Duggal, who worked for the most part of his career as a banker at Bank of America and a former chairman of Shriram Capital. It was inaugurated by Delhi Lt. Governor Anil Baijal.

"The centre will be a platform for undertaking multidisciplinary research projects by the faculty of IIT Delhi especially focused to study and resolve clear air issues in Delhi and NCR region. Besides providing scientific information to policymakers this will also give feedback on the effectiveness of various pollution management programmes," said a statement from the institute.

The centre will also be used to strike collaborations between researchers and the industry to manufacture the equipment and also for the air pollution reduction programmes being implemented in China, US, UK, Japan, and South Korea. "All the solutions and the answers need a holistic reflection coupled with an approach that has a strong community participation.

We are being inundated with all kinds of solutions from zero waste to ozone-based technologies but they have to be sustainable. We are trying to get pilot projects that are diversified and localised. I am hopeful that the centre will help in finding solutions to the mounds of garbage at the landfill sites of Delhi, enumerate viable tech solution for zero waste in a decentralised manner and management of silt that gets segregated from the silt waste," Baijal said at the inauguration.

Terming IIT Delhi faculty and student body as the "most talented", Duggal said: "It is my belief that CERCA will become a leading scientific centre for addressing the air pollution issues not only in India but also in the world."