Published by Mr. Ajay Maken, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. Independent analysis of official CPCB monitoring data. Data compiled by CREA, with our thanks for its work in creating awareness. CREA has no involvement in this site. Contact: [email protected]

Report · 08 September 2026

190 AQI at Wazirpur, the worst monitor in Delhi today, Moderate on the Central Pollution Control Board's own scale, and PM10 set that figure. 14.1 lakh people live within 4 km of it.

172.0 lakh
people in air rated Poor or worse
within four kilometres of the 31 stations reading Poor or worse
82.2%
of Delhi's population
breathing it today
190
Wazirpur
Moderate

Today in cards

The counterThe worst stationThe people within four kilometresHow the stations spreadThe closerThe wide card

The same cards that went out on Instagram, Facebook, X and WhatsApp today. Tap one to open it full size.

Analysis window: 10 AM 7th September to 10 AM 8th September
Baseline: YoY baseline: avg of 1st Sep - 15th Sep 2025 (same +/-7 days), matched stations

Today's full report

Roughly twelve pages: the verdict on today's air, every monitoring station, the weather versus policy attribution, the full year of de-weathered trends, and the annexures behind each number.

Download the daily reportPDF, 4.1 MB
Narrated in Hindi. Runs 44 seconds.

The findings

What today's report says

The verdict, both rulers
On its own count the pipeline puts the observed year at +30.7 points; with the weather removed it reads -1.5 on the model's count. 4 of 6 pollutants, PM2.5, PM10, SO2, CO, show no real improvement.
Against yesterday: the one-day move
From 91 to 116. The 95 per cent interval runs 17.8 to 33.3 points, on 43 matched stations.
Against last year: the observed reading
Today 116 across 44 stations. The year is judged on the 36 matched stations: 119 today against 86, the mean of the same date ±7 days of 2025 at those stations. The interval runs 24.1 to 40.3 points.
The worst station in the city today
Moderate, on PM10. Last year this station read 120 on the ±7-day mean around this date; the change is 69.6 points. Within 500 m of the monitor, 91% of the land is built up and 8% is under vegetation, so this reading describes a densely built neighbourhood.
The year, from its best days to its worst
On the same 250 dates the best tenth of days reads 77 against 71, and the worst tenth 301 against 290. Each is unchanged inside its margin, and the days at or below 200 went from 171 to 172.
How much of the city was above AQI 200
That is 12.1 of 43.1 reporting stations, against 29 per cent over the same dates last year, a change of +0.6 points on an interval of -2.8 to +4.0, so it is unchanged inside its margin.
Who the monitoring network reaches
Within 4 km live 88 per cent of Delhi's people, within 2 km 41 per cent, and within 500 m only 3.3 per cent. India's own rules ask for about 46 particulate monitors, because IS 5182 scales the count to population, and Delhi has 44. So the count test passes, while 29 of the 44 zones still stretch past 4 km, which is as far as a monitor is held to speak.
What each monitor's reading speaks for
That is 0.0 per cent of Delhi, living around the 0 monitors that read Poor or worse. Wazirpur was worst at 190, and 1,408,080 people live within 4 km of it. On the wider count, 82 per cent live within 4 km of a monitor at Moderate or worse.

A caution we publish daily

Gas data carries documented unit-inconsistency (peer-reviewed international research, 2025); we lead on the reliable PM2.5/PM10.

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