Delhi to get 14 more air quality monitoring stations, exceed 25 sq km coverage target

Monday’s new stations take the network to 46 in total for the 1,483 sq km city – giving the Capital an air quality monitor for every 32 sq km.

A day after inaugurating six new ambient air quality monitoring stations, the Delhi government announced plans on Tuesday to install 14 additional stations in the upcoming financial year, aiming to blanket the city with a monitoring point every 25 square kilometers.

Delhi already has the densest network of stations in the country. (File Photo/Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

HT graphics.

The goal is to implement a systematic 5km-by-5km grid network, giving the city one station every 25 sq km and thus eliminating existing geographical gaps in pollution tracking, said Delhi’s environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

This push aligns with a broader directive from the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM), which on Tuesday called for a denser monitoring network across the entire National Capital Region using the same grid concept. CAQM stated that 21 new stations are being installed in NCR towns – including the 14 planned for Delhi – with an additional 46 required thereafter.

“We are looking at a 5x5 km grid, so soon there will be a station every 25 sq km, completing the entire network for Delhi in terms of geographical area by the end of 2026-27,” said Sirsa. An assessment for the new locations is underway, he added.

Delhi already has the densest network of stations in the country. On Monday, Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta inaugurated the six new stations at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), SPMSPC Talkatora Garden, Commonwealth Sports Complex, Delhi Cantonment and NSUT (West Campus).

Monday’s new stations take the network to 46 in total for the 1,483 sq km city – giving the Capital an air quality monitor for every 32 sq km. The planned 14 stations would increase the total to 60, comfortably exceeding the 25 sq km coverage target.

The expansion addresses gaps highlighted in a September report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), which found that 25% of Delhi’s area, largely in peripheral districts, lay outside a 5-km radius of any monitoring station.

CAQM’s regional plan mandates one station per 25 sq km for Delhi and contiguous NCR cities like Ghaziabad, Noida, and Faridabad. Other district headquarters in the NCR will require one station per 50 sq km. “The remaining district headquarters and cities would have one station per 50 sq km area. Monitoring coverage in peri-urban and suburban areas has also been identified as critical for assessing inflow and outflow of pollution and understanding the impact of urban sprawl on regional air quality,” CAQM said in a statement on Tuesday.

Upon completion of all planned installations, the total number of stations in Delhi-NCR would reach 157: a total of 60 in Delhi, 45 in Haryana (NCR), 9 in Rajasthan (NCR), and 43 in Uttar Pradesh (NCR).

Experts said a denser network will give the region better coverage, while allowing both micro-level and policy-based decisions. “This will improve our coverage in the region, but it is important to ensure quality data and monitoring, so that we have data available at all times. It can help agencies take better decisions and assist with health-exposure studies,” said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), stating in the past, several stations in NCR have also seen data go missing.

Sunil Dahiya, founder and lead analyst at the think-tank Envirocatalysts meanwhile stressed on choosing locations which represent the city as a whole. “The six new stations in Delhi are mostly in green areas. It is important to ensure these new stations do not come in only green areas, as it will skew the average,” he added.