Announcing the initiative, Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said Delhi is “throwing open its doors to anything that works on the ground.”3
Delhi is turning to innovators for its next breakthrough in clean-air technology. On Friday, the Delhi government launched a pioneering Innovation Challenge aimed at crowdsourcing affordable technologies to reduce particulate pollution (PM2.5 and PM10) from roads, vehicles, and construction sites.
The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) will spearhead the city’s search for practical, cost-effective solutions, ranging from dust-trapping road coatings to exhaust-capture devices that can perform effectively in real-world Delhi conditions.
Announcing the initiative, Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa emphasized that Delhi is open to any solution that works on the ground. “Bring us what works on the road, or at construction and industrial sites. If it significantly reduces PM2.5 or PM10, is easy to install, and remains affordable, we’ll support it,” he stated.
The competition will be evaluated in three stages: an initial screening by the DPCC, expert field or lab trials, and final validation by national labs such as the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). Shortlisted entries will receive ₹5 lakh after Stage-2 trials, while fully validated technologies can win up to ₹50 lakh and a pathway for large-scale adoption.
Sirsa also noted that while Delhi has seen “the highest number of clean-air days in a decade,” the city’s ultimate goal is to ensure “every day is a clean-air day.” He stressed that “enforcement alone won’t get us there,” calling the initiative a “24×7 innovation mission.”
