Saurabh Bharadwaj Accuses Government of Manipulating Delhi Pollution Data

Aam Aadmi Party leader Saurabh Bharadwaj accused the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Central Pollution Control Board of committing fraud by manipulating air quality data in Delhi. Citing a report from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, Bharadwaj alleged that actual pollution levels were 49 percent higher than official readings, claiming an official AQI of 370 could actually be 560 or higher.

Bharadwaj led an AAP delegation to the Commission for Air Quality Management on Wednesday, where he alleged the Delhi Government manipulated data by placing monitoring stations in green areas and spraying water on stations in densely populated regions. He further criticized the Central Pollution Control Board for allegedly displaying readings that exceeded 999 as zero. The CREA report supported these claims by identifying 255 missing hourly station records between November 8 and November 9.

The Commission for Air Quality Management stated it is working to improve air quality across the Delhi-NCR region through interventions in transport, industry, and waste management. While Delhi's overall AQI improved marginally to 321 on Thursday morning, it remained in the very poor category.