Delhi Budget 2025: 6 new monitoring stations for air quality, 32 for water

Delhi CM Rekha Gupta prioritizes air and water quality, announcing ₹506 crore budget for monitoring stations to combat pollution challenges.

Published on: Mar 26, 2025, 05:56:16 IST

By Jasjeev Gandhiok

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Chief minister Rekha Gupta on Tuesday said that improving Delhi’s air and water quality are top priorities for her government, as she announced an outlay of ₹506 crore for the environment and forest departments in her budget speech.

Thick fog in Delhi in Febuary. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

Gupta, who also holds the finance portfolio, said Delhi will get six new continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS) to measure air quality, taking the total number of such stations in the capital to 46. She also announced that 32 new real-time water quality monitoring stations will be installed in the city to monitor water pollution.

“Keeping the air quality of Delhi and water resources clean and protected is one of the top priorities of our government. Delhi is facing serious environmental challenges like air and water pollution. Also, waste management is also one of the major problems of Delhi. To deal with these challenges, we need monitoring of environmental parameters and time-bound implementation of projects,” the chief minister said in her speech, adding that of the ₹506 crores allotted, ₹422 crore is for various schemes, projects and programmes.

Gupta said the six new air quality stations will be installed at strategic locations, allowing for wider coverage and data-driven decision making.

“Not only this, for the first time 32 water quality monitoring stations will be installed in Delhi. These stations will be installed in the Yamuna and on various drains, so that real-time monitoring of water quality can be done. There will be advanced sensors, which will monitor the pollution. Auto alerts will be sent from these stations to various departments, so that action can be taken to control water pollution in time,” Gupta said.

Sunil Dahiya, founder and lead analyst at the think-tank Envirocatalysts said the 2025-26 budget indicates action in the right direction for air pollution reduction, including overall focus on electricity mobility and a transition towards solar rooftops. “However, sustained success will depend on strict enforcement, transparent information sharing and actions, timely implementation, and inclusive public engagement,” he said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jasjeev Gandhiok
Jasjeev Gandhiok is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times, where he covers environment, climate change, the clean energy transition and wildlife at the National Bureau. Gandhiok has over a decade of experience in journalism and is based in Delhi. He has reported extensively on Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). This includes the region's air pollution woes, a polluted Yamuna and on urban wildlife still thriving in the region. He joined HT in October 2021. Prior to that, he had five-year stint at The Times of India in Delhi, where he also covered Delhi, with a focus on environment and wildlife. Gandhiok has covered some recent events around the Capital too, ranging from the farmers' protests, the northeast Delhi riots and the CAA-NRC protests, reporting from the ground on all of these. He also travels across the country to report on how environment and climate change impact everyday life, while also writing on endangered species. His reports in 2019 on toxic leachate from Delhi's landfills led to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) taking suo motu cognisance and ultimately asking the state government to start bio-mining to flatten and remove all three landfills in the capital. He also closely tracks the implementation of government policies on climate, renewable energy and environmental protection. His focus remains on impactful, public-interest journalism which explains how environmental decisions affect people's everyday lives.Read More

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