Now Reading: GMC starts 20 vertical gardens at Guwahati traffic junctions
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GMC starts 20 vertical gardens at Guwahati traffic junctions
The Guwahati Municipal Corporation has begun building vertical gardens at 20 traffic junctions identified as pollution hotspots due to prolonged vehicle idling. The largest installation, nearly 10,000 sq ft, is coming up…
The Guwahati Municipal Corporation has begun building vertical gardens at 20 traffic junctions identified as pollution hotspots due to prolonged vehicle idling. The largest installation, nearly 10,000 sq ft, is coming up on GS Road near the Supermarket police point.
GMC Commissioner Chinmoy Phookan said the project uses heat-resilient plants suited to the city's climate. Agencies including the Guwahati Jal Board and APDCL are providing irrigation and power. The work is funded under the National Clean Air Programme of the Union environment ministry. The contractor will also maintain the gardens for five years.
Phookan said the GMC expects to complete the work before Durga Puja and is exploring advertising revenue from the structures. The project aims to convert concrete spaces around flyovers and junctions into greenery while tackling vehicular emission impacts.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Guwahati's green-wall experiment follows similar interventions in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru under the National Clean Air Programme, which targets a 40% reduction in particulate matter by 2026 relative to 2017 levels. Vertical gardens do not remove existing pollutants but can trap dust and absorb some oxides of nitrogen and carbon dioxide near emission points. The real performance test will come post-Durga Puja, when the GMC must measure whether air quality at these junctions improves measurably against routine monitoring station data. The five-year maintenance clause places the risk on the builder, but advertising revenue is speculative until at least a pilot site attracts a paying sponsor. The Pollution Control Board Assam's winter air quality data from December 2024, the first full season after installation, will provide the earliest independent check.
Source: assamtribune.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
