AI to facilitate pollution-control, says CM as Delhi govt inks MoU for air quality forecast tech

Artificial intelligence and data analytics-led interventions will lead to improvement of Delhi's air quality, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta asserted on Friday, signing an MoU with IIT Kanpur to develop technology enabling forecast of air pollution levels 72 hours in advanced.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Delhi government's environment department and the AIRAWAT Research Foundation of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur.

Under the agreement, an integrated air quality monitoring network using low-cost sensors, mobile monitoring laboratories, and satellite data will be developed in Delhi, the Delhi CMO said in a statement.

This will enable real-time monitoring of pollution and accurate analysis of local emission sources.

As part of the project, an AI-based advanced decision support system (DSS) will be developed. The system will be capable of identifying pollution hotspots, carrying out hyper-local analyses, generating predictive analytics, and providing air quality forecasts 48 to 72 hours in advance, the statement said.

The MoU will remain in force for the next five years.

Through this partnership, air quality management in the capital will be further strengthened through the use of artificial intelligence (AI), advanced data analytics, hyper-local monitoring, and scientific decision-support systems, it said.

Environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa and senior officials were present at the occasion.

Gupta said the partnership would play an important role in ensuring more accurate identification of pollution sources, monitoring of hotspots, improved forecast systems, and timely interventions.

Sirsa said Delhi requires technology-based, transparent, and result-oriented solutions to effectively address the long-term challenge of air pollution.