The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has recommended strengthening of the air quality monitoring network in the national Capital to identify pollution hotspots and assess transboundary movement of pollution.

The recommendation is part of a policy formulated by the panel to curb air pollution in Delhi-NCR. The CAQM noted that there has been considerable progress in expanding the air quality monitoring network in Delhi-NCR since 2015. The region has a total of 146 monitoring stations at present, of which 65 are manual and 81 real time. There are 50 air quality monitoring stations (both manual and real-time) in Delhi, 11 in Gurugram, 8 in Ghaziabad, 12 in Gautam Buddh Nagar, five in Faridabad, four in Baghpat and three each in Jhajjar, Sonipat and Rohtak.

Alwar, Bharatpur, Bhiwani, Bulandshahr, Charkhi Dadri, Hapur, Jind, Karnal, Mahendragarh, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Panipat, Rewari, Shamli, Mewat and Palwal have a total of 146 air quality monitoring stations. “Nearly a quarter of all the real-time air quality monitors in the country are in Delhi-NCR. However, there is asymmetry in the distribution of monitors.

“Most monitors are concentrated in urban centres. While 50 per cent of the real-time monitors are located in Delhi, the remaining are distributed mainly in the four cities of Faridabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad and Gurugram,” the panel said.

The other districts of NCR have only one real time monitor each. Until some time ago, several districts did not have any monitors at all, including manual ones.Of the total 65 manual stations in NCR, only 20 have PM2.5 monitors.

“Further strengthening of the monitoring grid in the NCR region requires a roadmap. Delhi has a sufficient number of regulatory monitors and needs to focus on quality control of the data and its dissemination.

The rest of NCR will require further strengthening of the grid,” read the policy document issued by the CAQM on Wednesday