Urban air pollution and exposure-related health impacts are being noticed and discussed very intensely in India. On the other hand, source-specific control is the primary focus for policymakers; however, diverse and complex sources make it difficult to immediately see the action and consequent impacts on better air quality. Many cities across the world have witnessed high air pollution levels at traffic junctions, more so in all Indian cities. Site-specific air pollution reduction can be a promising solution for managing the pollution level at highly polluted locations. CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, India, has designed and developed Wind Augmentation and purifYing Unit (WAYU) to remove particulate and gaseous pollutants from urban hot spots such as traffic locations. In the present study, the authors attempted to evaluate the performance of two different designs of WAYU for the removal of particulate matters from polluted air at different traffic locations in Delhi City, the national capital territory of India. The performance analyses show that the current design of WAYU removes PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations in the range of 34–49% and 19–25%, respectively from the inlet air. The total PM collected from all WAYU devices was 34.19 kg from 120,557 operating hours’ at all the sampling sites. The PM removal rate depends on the size-segregated particulate matter pollution load in the ambient air.

High level of particulate matter pollution in the urban areas of major cities is significantly affecting the human health due to its toxic chemical constituents. Re-suspension of road dust along with tyre and brake wear are the dominant sources of PM pollution in the urban area in both developed and developing countries. This paper mainly reviews the contribution of road dust in ambient PM level, factors affecting re-suspension of road dust and chemical reagents available for dust suppression. The emission of road dust re-suspension significantly varies based on amount of silt deposited on the road, type of road (paved and unpaved road, concrete material of the paved road), number and types of vehicles movement. The chemical reagent such as calcium magnesium acetate, magnesium chloride and calcium chloride are reported to significantly reduce the PM emissions from road dust in developed countries. Therefore, the efficacy of these chemicals in reducing the road dust from the urban road in developing countries needs to be evaluated along with the cost–benefit analysis and comparison with the conventional approach of dust control (road cleaning and washing). However, the associated factors in different countries may vary significantly as compared to Western countries.