The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) informed on Tuesday that it has deployed eight anti-smog guns in the area under its jurisdiction in the city to reduce air pollution.

“To mitigate air pollution in the New Delhi area, the NDMC has now deployed a fleet of eight anti-smog guns on all its avenue roads on a hiring basis. This initiative will help to strengthen anti-pollution efforts of NDMC and make the environment more livable in the heart of the city,” a statement of the civic body read.

The smog guns to be operational on the main roads of the New Delhi area from 8 am to 5 pm are GPS-enabled.

“The newly-deployed eight anti-smog guns are based on hydraulic operation and mounted on CNG-operated trucks having a water capacity tank of 7,000 litres. The water consumption of these anti-smog guns is 1,500 litres per hour of each,” the civic body said.

It further said, “The anti-smog guns are also displaying the environment-related message for public awareness. The cost of hiring these anti-smog guns will be Rs 2.87 crore for the period of two years.”

The NDMC further said that it had earlier already deployed anti-smog guns mounted on the 28-ton CNG truck chassis of Tata with the largest water tank capacity of 17,000 litre for mitigating air pollution. Due to its large water tank capacity, this anti-smog gun has a continuous runtime of three hours of non-stop water supply for spray reducing dead mileage.

Besides, another anti-smog gun/mist spray machine was procured and being used at Pt Pant Marg in the NDMC area, it said.

Four mechanical road sweepers (MRS) are already working in two shifts for the deep cleaning of road channels on the avenue roads in the New Delhi area and they are covering approximately 350 km of road length on a per day basis, it added.

The NDMC also informed that in the special cleanliness drive, Swachhta teams are not only sweeping the pavement and roads by brooms but also washing water to wash the dust or other air pollution elements daily.

Meanwhile, the civic body has urged the visitors and people of the New Delhi area to play an important role in controlling air pollution at an individual level.