Delhi's 6 new air stations may give pollution data green bias: Experts

Measuring AQI, but amidst greenery

- Jasjeev Gandhiok

NEW DELHI: Last week, Delhi environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa announced that the government will add six new continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS), adding to the Capital's 40 station-strong grid that acts as the backbone of the city's pollution monitoring mechanism.

But three of the new stations are proposed to be inside lush-green campuses — Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in south Delhi, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in south Delhi and Netaji Subhash University (West Campus) in west Delhi — one station deep inside the Central Ridge at the ISRO Earth station near Malcha Mahal, and two more in relatively green areas, Delhi cantonment and the Commonwealth Games Sports Complex in east Delhi, HT has learnt.

Experts say the location chosen for these new stations may eventually bring the overall average air quality index (AQI) of the city down, thereby providing a lopsided picture of pollution in the city, especially in winter.

Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), echoed the concern. "These sites are not data-starved zones. We need monitors in southwest and northwest peripheries where coverage is inadequate."

Sirsa, however, rejected the criticism, stating Delhi's ambient air quality network needed to be expanded to cover all types of locations. "We already have monitors in several polluted hotspots. If we keep adding only to those, we won't have a true citywide picture," he said.

"The new sites were selected by DPCC, and the process began under the previous government."