The indigenous device, that can also run on solar energy, is the result of joint effort of the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B), Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and E-Square Solutions. The device, Wind Augmentation and Air Purifying Unit (WAYU), is an active air pollution mitigation technology that works on the principle of breaking down carbon monoxide and Volatile Organic Carbon (VOC) into carbon dioxide.

"We created a prototype and tested it for a few months. Then we gave a demonstration to environment minister Ramdas Kadam in June. He was keen that the device be tested in Mumbai. Now MPCB has asked us to test it at five junctions in the city," said Dr Rakesh Kumar, chief scientist and head of NEERI.

Kumar said high pollution levels, including that of carbon monoxide, at busy and congested junctions of Mumbai was a major concern. "We monitored air quality at 20 junctions in the city for couple of months. Of them, we proposed five names keeping in mind the high particulate matter pollution as well as other feasibility issues and submitted the proposal to MPCB. During winters, the air quality is known to worsen. Hence, this will be an ideal time to conduct pilot tests," he added.

Vinayak Padalkar, an M-Tech student from IIT-B who is leading the project as his thesis under Kumar's guidance, said, "Due to traffic congestion, vehicles typically accelerate, remain idle and decelerate, causing a release of higher amounts of pollutants. It exposes motorists, pedestrians and those having homes or shops near the junctions to high pollution levels."

He added that at the moment, they have proposed Sardar Pav Bhaji junction at Tardeo, Bhandup police station junction on LBS road, Parel ST depot junction, Shreyas Cinema junction and Dr Hedgewar chowk junction on LBS road at Mulund for the pilot run.

In fact, the team has modified WAYU after it was presented in its original form in June. "We have made a lot of modifications to the device to make it simpler. Its fan has been upgraded to suck in more air. Apart from that, we have made changes in its design, so that it can be placed at congested junctions as per requirement – from being wall mounted to installing it on dividers," said Kumar.

"While conducting our own test runs, we observed that both carbon monoxide level in the range of 7-8 ppm during peak hours was reduced to 3.5-3.8 ppm, while particulate matter in the range of 260-350 mg/m3 was found to be reduced to 100-130 mg/m3 in the 20-30 m radius of the junction," said Padalkar.