Delhi to ink MoU for AI-driven air monitoring to curb pollution: Sirsa

In yet another step towards pollution mitigation and building a cleaner, greener and more scientifically managed national capital, the Delhi government’s Department of Environment will explore the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based technology to monitor air quality.

For this, the Delhi government, led by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, is all set to ink a Memorandum of Understanding with the AIRAWAT Research Foundation at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi Minister Manjinder Sirsa said on Wednesday.

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The proposed MoU aims to create a collaborative framework between the state’s Environment Department and AIRAWAT for designing, developing and operationalising AI-driven, sensor-enabled and analytics-based systems to monitor, manage and reduce air pollution in the national capital.

This partnership will support areas like hyper-local air quality monitoring, predictive forecasting, source attribution, decision-support systems, policy support and capacity building.

According to the minister, the proposed collaboration is expected to support the government in generating sharper insights into pollution patterns, identifying localised pollution sources and enabling timely interventions.

Throwing light on the same, Delhi Environment Minister Sirsa said the city needs technology-backed, transparent and actionable solutions to deal with the long-standing challenge of air pollution.

“This MoU with AIRAWAT Research Foundation reflects our resolve to build a smarter, more responsive environmental governance system,” Sirsa said, adding that the collaboration is designed to unlock research-led possibilities without placing any immediate financial burden on the government.

According to the minister, the initiative is primarily a knowledge partnership aimed at studying the potential of AI-based air quality technologies developed by ARF.

Sirsa underlined that the partnership is not limited to technology deployment alone, but also aims to strengthen institutional capacity within the government system.

“The aim is to ensure that Delhi’s pollution response is driven by data, guided by science and supported by robust institutional coordination,” he said, adding that such partnerships are crucial for creating long-term, scalable solutions.