Air quality monitoring center installed outside the gate of Maharishi Valmiki Hospital in Pooth Khurd located on Bawana Road. Jagran Archive
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Sanjeev Gupta, Neemli (Alwar). The national capital is the number one city in the country not only in air pollution but also in monitoring it. After the establishment of six new centres, there are now 46 air quality monitoring centers and all are real time. Such a large surveillance network does not exist in any other city in India.
There is only 3.5 percent population of Delhi which is not included in the surveillance range. Despite this, call it irony or something else... the true picture of Delhi's pollution still cannot be revealed. Shocking information came to light in a presentation on the second day of the three-day "Anil Agarwal Dialogue 2026" being held at the Anil Agarwal Environment Training Institute of the Center for Science and Environment (CSE).
True picture of AQI is not revealed
In this presentation based on the "State of India's Environment 2026" report, special concern was expressed that most of the air quality monitoring centers installed in the capital have been established either in green areas or in the premises of some institute. This does not reveal the correct picture of AQI.
At the same time, AQI comes down in the green area while water sprinkling is done from time to time around the monitoring centers installed in the campus of the institute. Even the six newly commissioned air quality monitoring centers have been set up in similar locations. On the other hand, according to the CSE presentation, only 15 percent of India's population of 1.4 billion lives in areas where real-time air monitors are installed within a 10 km radius. The remaining 85 percent of the population (about 1.2 billion people) lives in areas where there is no reliable means of measuring air quality.
Uneven surveillance networks: a major crisis
According to Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director of CSE, this lack of air monitoring is not just a lack of information but also a lack of governance. India currently has 562 real-time monitors in 294 cities, but these are limited to a few big cities.
Suggestion to adopt “Hybrid Network Design”
The report suggests that India should now adopt a "hybrid network design" instead of relying solely on expensive government monitors. This should include satellite data and low-cost sensors. Also, surveillance should be given priority in sensitive areas like schools and hospitals.
Accurate Data: After Chandigarh (100 percent coverage), Delhi is the second state/UT in the country where almost every citizen has the facility to know the air quality (AQI) of his area. Puducherry is at the third position, where about 50 percent of the area is covered with monitoring centers. Comparative situation: In comparison to Delhi, only 13 percent of the population in Bihar and only nine percent in Uttar Pradesh comes under the monitoring grid. Condition of the states: In Maharashtra, monitors are limited only to Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur. There is not a single real-time monitor in densely populated districts like Hooghly and Murshidabad in West Bengal. In the North-Eastern states, except Assam, there are only one to two stations in other states. Way forward: Need for hybrid model
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Unless pollution becomes a recorded data, it will be difficult to make effective policy against it and utilize funds properly. - Sharanjit Kaur, Deputy Program Manager, CSE