Delhi's air quality remains 'poor', AQI at 214
Feb 16, 2026
New Delhi [India], February 16 : The air quality in the national capital continued to remain in the 'poor' category on Monday, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) recorded at 214 around 7 am, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
This marked a marginal improvement from Sunday, when the AQI stood at 221 at the same time.
Delhi's Anand Vihar recorded AQI at 293, Bawana at 259, Chandni Chowk at 247, DTU at 203, Dwarka Sector 8 at 234, ITO at 200, Jahangirpuri at 285, Narela at 243, Punjabi Bagh at 203, RK Puram at 239, and Wazirpur at 268.
In contrast, some central areas of the city showed relatively better air quality. The AQI in the area around India Gate and Kartavya Path was 156, and around AIIMS it was 148, both classified as 'moderate', as per CPCB data.
As per AQI classification, a reading between 0 and 50 is considered 'good', 51 to 100 'satisfactory', 101 to 200 'moderate', 201 to 300 'poor', 301 to 400 'very poor', and 401 to 500 'severe'.
On Sunday, areas such as Mundka recorded (275), Anand Vihar (265), Bawana (241), Rohini (250), Dwarka (221), ITO (213), Ashok Vihar (243), Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (265), Vivek Vihar (252), and Chandni Chowk (228).
Earlier, the Opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) questioned the credibility of Delhi's pollution data and objected to the BJP government's decision to install six new AQI monitoring stations in the city's green and open areas.
AAP Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj said, "The intent of the BJP government led by Rekha Gupta was not to clean Delhi's air but to artificially lower AQI readings by shifting monitoring infrastructure to greener zones, thereby creating a false impression of improvement without taking substantive anti-pollution measures."
