Experts raise concern over Delhi’s pollution monitoring network

New Delhi: Delhi’s Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa last week promised that six new continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS) will soon be installed in the national capital, aiming to make the pollution monitoring network more potent in the city. These will be added to the existing 40 stations already tracking air pollution in Delhi. This decision by the government is not free from controversy.

Out of the six planned stations, three will be established inside green university campuses—Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in south Delhi and Netaji Subhash University (West Campus) in west Delhi. One more is to be located deep inside the Central Ridge at the ISRO Earth Station near Malcha Mahal, and two others in green areas like Delhi Cantonment and the Commonwealth Games Sports Complex in east Delhi.

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These locations are packed with greenery and relatively clean; their data might bring down the city’s overall average air quality index (AQI), especially during the winter when pollution is at its worst. Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), voiced this concern, saying, “These sites already have good air quality. We need monitors in outer areas like southwest and northwest Delhi, where data is still lacking.”

In response, Minister Sirsa defended the move, saying that Delhi needs a balanced network of monitors across different types of locations. “We already have monitors in polluted areas. If we only focus on those, we won’t get a full picture of the city’s air,” he said.

This initiative by the Delhi government is likely to help in tracking the air pollution of Delhi. But populated areas of the city also need such monitoring stations where the situation is severe—no greenery, dirty and filthy roads and streets. Pollution levels remain high in such locations. Therefore, monitoring is essential in such areas for getting the exact data of the city’s pollution.