Delhi’s upscale mall Select CityWalk on Thursday said it has installed ‘Chakr Shield’, a retrofit emission control device for its diesel generator (DG) sets, which will reduce pollution from the DG sets by up to 80 per cent. “Carbon emissions and clean air are a growing concern, and we all have to play our part in this effort. The DG set ban in Delhi NCR during winters has often proved to be a major bottleneck for us, especially in case of a power cut, hampering a seamless shopping experience… The Chakr Shield is a significant technological disruption we have adopted, which will enable us to operate our DG sets with negligible emissions,” Yogeshwar Sharma, Executive Director and CEO, Select CityWalk, said.
“We hope through our initiative, we can be an exemplar for policymakers in Delhi to take heed of this technology and exempt responsible organisations like ours from the DG set ban,” he added. Chakr Innovation, the developer of ‘Chakr Shield’, is a start-up founded by graduates of IIT Delhi who claim to have developed a patented technology to reduce the harmful exhaust emitted from the DG sets. Shashi Sharma, Director – Operations and Projects, Select CityWalk, said “the installation of the Chakr Shield is our endeavour to help in significant, up to 80 per cent, reduction of pollution from the DG sets”. The ‘Chakr Shield’ can reduce significantly particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions after retrofitting on the tailpipe of the DG set, Shashi Sharma said, adding, installing the devices on its DG sets was a voluntary step by Select CityWalk.
The installation was inaugurated by Vikas Mahatme, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha). Chakr Innovation COO and Co-founder at Bharti Singhla said installing the Chakr Shield on the five DG sets located within Select CityWalk premises will help reduce annually an estimated 378 kg of PM (particulate matter) or black soot emissions which is equivalent to more than 174 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide emissions or the carbon sequestered by 228 acres of forest in 1 year alone.
