Delhi's Data Disaster: Is The Govt Fudging Pollution Numbers?

India Today

This India Today special report investigates the state of air pollution monitoring in Delhi, revealing major discrepancies at key locations like ITO and Lodhi Road. The report finds that 'the data has become like a game of numbers, it has become a game of numbers to just reduce.' Our ground check exposes a significant mismatch between government CPCB data and independent meters, with PM 2.5 levels at ITO showing a nearly twofold difference. In the VIP area of Lodhi Road, the official AQI display was found to be completely defunct. Even at JLN Stadium, a hub for athletes, no functional display board was located. These findings come as the Supreme Court raises questions about non-functional monitoring stations, questioning the reliability of the very data meant to protect citizens' health from hazardous air quality.

Transcript

00:00this is location number two we are at ITO let's see what the pollution meter

00:14with us says at the moment at ITO the pollution meter is 312 p.m. 2.5 is 142

00:23let's see what the government's data this is CPCB and let's see what that one

00:28says p.m. 2.5 is 87 p.m. 2.5 over here is 145 that's a massive difference how's that happening

00:39that is the strange part that there's you know the data has become like a it's a you know a game

00:45of numbers you know it's become a game of numbers to just reduce it's ridiculous because you know

00:49we have another monitor there and it's the same it's around 145 here this is at a distance that's

00:56why it's capturing less we are on the ground floor everything matters because we are nearer

01:01to the road and it cannot be like double you cannot be so so much difference in the data and

01:07this is again p.m. 2.5 is something very serious you cannot afford to do this people tend to think

01:14we should not be you know we are still you know it should be five micrograms pm 2.5 yeah pm 2.5 is

01:23the particulate matter that enters your bloodstream directly there is little you can do to get it out

01:30of your system once it's in absolutely and that at the moment at location two discrepancy is it's almost

01:37double to what a private independent aqi meter says versus what the figures of cpcb over there are

01:45all right this is location number three we are on lodi road perhaps the greenest part of the national

01:59capital region and what do we find here this is supposed to be an aqi display system which is

02:07currently defunct not functioning at all now what do we make of this ravine look this this is very

02:16very sad to see because we're in the peak of the pollution and like you said we're in a actually a vip

02:23area we have uh you know parliamentarians judges you know the most uh you know important the bureaucrats

02:30staying here and uh this was a monitor actually which is at least in my mind it's probably the first

02:36monitors that we saw the displays and you know being this thing and this used to be the you know

02:41common route for everyone so it was always a uh you know like a win for us that finally there's

02:46something that you're seeing and you know what you as it is you can't see air but this is seeing is

02:52believing so you know what concept was coming but then let's see on your meter how much is this

02:58saying right now so this is in the poor category still it says aqi is about 216 down to 200 pm 2.5 is

03:0892 meaning pm 2.5 is still in the poor category what is a who limit for pm 2.5 five five micrograms

03:19one second again WHO unit for pm 2.5 is yeah five five and we are at you're right right now it's about

03:28how you know it was about 120 which was showing just now so you are you can imagine you are 20 20 times

03:35more right now as of now and this is this is not the highest of the figures that we've seen

03:40so so coming back to the display monitors is something very crucial rather than going forward

03:47and having because so many years we've been asking that every school every hospital every stadium

03:53every bus stop railway station they must have air quality monitors because display boards because

03:59that's what is what you see people will learn citizens will know more about it but unfortunately

04:04this is uh we're going back many steps this is like you know vip uh you know one of the most

04:11important uh areas uh display board isn't uh working cars pass by over here with judges sitting over

04:17there this is remember a public holiday so there is not much traffic on the roads today but despite that

04:25you see the apathy is that nobody is even questioning the monitor not working i think that is so important

04:32no matter what you are where you are this is clean air is something that we all need all our children

04:40will suffer all our grandchildren will suffer so i think everyone must question every everything that

04:46we see is not working appreciate everything that's working irrespective of political uh parties

04:53affiliations that's got nothing to do with this it's something because at the end of the day

04:57all of us are breathing the same air all right so that was location three let's find out one more

05:03and then see what's happening there yeah

05:04we are now at location number four this is the jln stadium the jawahala lehru stadium

05:24this is the place where the marathon runners came over the weekend where aqi had gone all the way to

05:31400 according to government figures and doctors said it's laughable it's a mass suicide if you're

05:37actually coming out and running in these numbers here we are told they're supposed to be a cpcb system

05:45and pollution monitoring system we haven't found a display board just yet but let's check on our

05:52pollution meter what it's going at the moment on our pollution meter it goes on to say that it's

05:58up to about 200 right it fluctuates between 200 250 let's take it on the lower side as 200

06:05but since we don't have a government figure let's quickly check what the app is saying

06:09i've got this app opened up on our phones this is a samir app which records an aqi of 180

06:17so a bit of a discrepancy over there but again here in this relatively greener zone of delhi

06:27here on a day when the weather gods are actually in our favor it's a little windy as well you can

06:34see the leaves moving as well on days like these it's still 200 why is that worrying because the

06:43whor data says it should be 50 or under can you see the delhi ncr skyline behind me well neither can

06:53i but the point of today's exercise was not just to clear the air it was at least to clear the air

06:59on pollution numbers and what is it that we found out our location number one the most polluted part

07:06of delhi ncr which is anand vihar there we see a clear dip of almost 200 points the minute you have

07:15water sprinkling systems going around it only happens for a short period but it brings down the numbers

07:21location number two we went to ito a lot of traffic there but today being a holiday even in this relatively

07:30less polluted time you see a mismatch pm 2.5 on the government machinery versus what the environmentalist

07:39machinery was telling us was again a clear slip then we went to the seat of the elite in delhi ncr we

07:48went to lodi road there forget mismatch in numbers the pollution display system was only defunct and

07:56apparently it's been you know defunct for a while nobody really bothers our location number four gln

08:03this is where athletes this is where runners this is where sporting enthusiasts all of them go to

08:11exercise but even there you see the air quality level not really being there in fact we couldn't even

08:18find the display board on aqi numbers it should be there no if you go for a run you should be able to see

08:25the aqi so what have we learned from this exercise well there are serious questions and i think they

08:32remain to exist even the supreme court now has raised some very pertinent questions on the levels of

08:39pollutions and not just that the beans with which it's being monitored here in the national capital the

08:46question is do we care enough about our lungs about the lungs of our kids remember pollution is an equalizer

08:55from the prime minister to the beggar everybody breathes the same air so should we all really

09:00care about it and the first step to that will be to ensure we know the right numbers

09:08this was an air pollution reality check

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