Govt manipulating AQI data: AAP; BJP hits back

A war of words broke out on Saturday over the government’s plans to install six new continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS), with the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claiming that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to manipulate air quality data by installing the stations in “green zones”. In response, BJP minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said the locations were finalised when the AAP was in power.

HT on Saturday reported that of the six stations, three are proposed to be placed 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 is likely to be installed 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.

According to experts, these locations 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 the winter months.

AAP Delhi convener Saurabh Bharadwaj said the decision to install these monitors in forested areas where “pollution levels in green zones are typically half of what they are in residential areas is to falsely show lower pollution levels and deceive the public.”

“The BJP is not reducing pollution — they are merely installing monitors in lush green spots to artificially lower the city’s average AQI. The next step? Wherever heavy pollution exists — on roadsides, industrial zones — they will simply let the old monitors deteriorate. Those monitors will break down and stay broken…Even when they know pollution is dangerously high, they will deliberately fool people into believing it’s low,” Bharadwaj said at a press briefing at the AAP headquarters.

Hitting back, Sirsa claimed in a post on X that the decision to install CAAQMS at the six locations was taken by the former AAP government.

“This decision was taken during your government itself...and now when the air in Delhi is getting clean and pollution is decreasing due to the continuous work done by the BJP government, you could not tolerate it and you started vomiting lies. The public understand all your deceit,” Sirsa said. The environment minister also shared documents to back his claims.

According to the documents, CAQM in a communication to chairman of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and others stated that in a meeting dated October 28, 2024, the sub-committee on monitoring and identification felt the need to increase the number of monitoring stations to represent all types of ecosystems and constituted a committee to identify and ascertain suitable locations of new CAAQMS considering scientific requirement, gap areas, spatial representation, logistics, security requirements among others. The committee had recommended the installation of six new CAAQMS in the city.

According to a second document, DPCC issued a proposal dated February 21, 2025 for procurement of six CAAQMS along with the locations of the stations.

The new Delhi cabinet along took oath on February 20 after the BJP won the assembly elections that month.

Delhi has 40 AQI stations that provide critical information that help authorities decide on pollution mitigation measures. The average AQI comes from the average AQI of the readings of each of the 40 stations installed.

A recent Comptroller and Auditor General report also flagged concerns about the placement of AQI monitors. The report, which carried an audit of the 24 CAAQMS under DPCC, found 13 of these were not located as per CPCB guidelines. These stations were either too close to trees, roads, high-rise buildings, or unpaved surfaces, which could distort readings, the report said. Sunil Dahiya, founder and lead analyst at Envirocatalysts, said the city urgently needs better, not just more, data. “The new stations should be installed in commercial, residential, and industrial areas. Focusing too heavily on green areas will skew the numbers.”