The Central Pollution Control Board's official index registered an average of 240 micrograms per cubic metre across 30 stations during Diwali, whereas Delhi Pollution Control Commission records showed an average of 551. Because values above 1,000 micrograms were discarded as data gaps, 217 hourly observations went missing and several severe stations failed to meet the 16-hour minimum needed for daily calculations. This omission allowed the citywide air quality index to paradoxically decline despite monitoring stations detecting overnight PM2.5 concentrations exceeding 3,000 micrograms. Health experts emphasize that filtering out these intense spikes obscures periods driving emergency condit…
Key points
Discarding high-concentration data points distorts official indices and misrepresents the…: Discarding high-concentration data points distorts official indices and misrepresents the severity of acute environmental health hazards.
Technical sensor limitations prevented the most dangerous spikes from being integrated in…: Technical sensor limitations prevented the most dangerous spikes from being integrated into Delhi's published air quality calculations.
Omitting peak pollution periods risks eroding public trust and blinds citizens to trigger…: Omitting peak pollution periods risks eroding public trust and blinds citizens to triggers of serious short-term medical emergencies.
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BBC Verify has found significant discrepancies between two Indian government datasets showing Delhi's air pollution during Diwali, indicating official figures may not have captured the full extent of the problem.
As fireworks lit up Delhi's skies on 8 November to mark one of India's biggest festivals, some monitoring stations recorded very high levels of PM2.5, a fine particulate matter which can damage people's lungs and cause other serious health problems.
But every hourly PM2.5 reading above 1,000 micrograms per cubic metre was missing from the widely cited air quality index (AQI) published by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), when compared to data from the Delhi Pollution Control Commission (DPCC).
Delhi is one of the most polluted cities in the world and often has dangerously poor air quality, so it is vital people living in India's capital can trust the official data. Firecrackers are not the only cause of pollution, which is also attributed to a mix of reasons including vehicle emissions, construction dust, farm fires and atmospheric factors. But they can worsen air quality, especially in winter.
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