Delhi's decades-long battle against air pollution: From dusty skies to AI-powered monitoring

New Delhi: Every winter, as haze settles over Delhi, air pollution returns to the centre of public concern. From decades-old studies of dusty skies to landmark court orders, cleaner fuel schemes and now AI-powered cameras, the city's fight against polluted air has changed over the years.

In 1954, a study titled-"Is the incidence of unusually dusty weather over Delhi in May and June for the two consecutive summers of 1952 and 1953 an indication that the Rajasthan Desert is advancing towards Delhi?"- examined dust storms and weather observations in the capital.

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It raised the question of whether the desert was advancing towards Delhi, though it did not establish that this was happening.

Another study, "Studies on atmospheric particulate matter at Delhi", published in 1965, analysed airborne particles collected in the city between 1960 and 1962, offering an early look at the chemical composition of Delhi's air.

By the 1980s, pollution was increasingly becoming a matter of public health and legal action. In 1985, environmental lawyer M C Mehta approached the Supreme Court over pollution in Delhi, leading to a series of interventions targeting polluting industries and vehicle emissions.

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In 1996, the Centre for Science and Environment published "Slow Murder: The Deadly Story of Vehicular Pollution in India", highlighting the health risks associated with vehicle exhaust.

The following year, the Union environment ministry issued a White Paper on pollution in Delhi with an action plan.

A major shift came in 1998, when the Supreme Court directed Delhi's public transport buses to switch to compressed natural gas (CNG) by March 31, 2001. The transition became a defining moment in efforts to reduce emissions from the bus fleet.

The Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority was also set up that year to monitor pollution-control measures in Delhi-NCR.

In 2014, Delhi drew international attention when it ranked as the world's most polluted city (in terms of PM 2.5 concentration) in the World Health Organization's urban air pollution database.

The winter of 2015 brought renewed urgency. As pollution levels rose, the Delhi High Court remarked that it seemed people were living in a "gas chamber". The Supreme Court ordered measures to curb pollution, including restrictions on certain trucks entering the capital and an environmental charge on commercial vehicles.

In January 2016, the Delhi government introduced the odd-even scheme, regulating private car use on designated days. Later that year, a severe smog episode infamously called the Great Smog of Delhi that again highlighted the effects of firecrackers, emissions, crop residue burning and unfavourable weather conditions.

In 2017, the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) introduced emergency measures linked to pollution levels, with restrictions becoming stricter as air quality deteriorates.

Other interventions followed. The Badarpur thermal power plant was permanently shut amid pollution concerns. The Supreme Court later directed the installation of smog towers in Delhi. A tower at Connaught Place began pilot studies, though experts questioned its effectiveness beyond the immediate area.

The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) was established in 2021 to coordinate pollution-control measures across Delhi-NCR, recognising that polluted air and its sources do not stop at state borders.

Today, technology is playing a bigger role in monitoring and enforcement.

In October 2026, the Delhi government announced an AI-enabled Integrated Command and Control Centre to monitor pollution sources and track mitigation measures.

AI-powered cameras are being used at construction sites, while GPS technology helps track road-sweeping operations and enforcement teams.

Thirteen additional continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations were also inaugurated, taking Delhi's network to 60.

However, monitoring alone cannot solve the problem, said Manoj Kumar, an air quality analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

PM2.5 dominates Delhi's winter pollution and poses serious health risks, yet many action plans under the National Clean Air Programme and GRAP continue to focus on PM10, Kumar said.

Despite CAQM identifying secondary particulate matter as contributing around one-fourth of Delhi's winter PM2.5 pollution, gaseous precursors that drive its formation have not received adequate attention, he said.

The secondary particulate matter is a type of air pollution that forms in the atmosphere after gases such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and ammonia undergo chemical reactions to form PM2.5.

The focus must shift towards reducing PM2.5 and precursor emissions from industries, residential fuel use and thermal power plants, alongside transport and other combustion sources, Kumar said.

From early studies of dusty weather to modern monitoring systems, the understanding of Delhi's pollution has evolved considerably. The challenge remains translating these interventions into sustained emission reductions and cleaner air for the capital's residents.