Feb 4, 2026: ‘Severe’ AQI at Parliament puts focus on budget’s weak pollution push

For today’s Aaj Ka AQI, Newslaundry travelled to the Parliament Complex, where the budget session is underway. The closest CPCB monitoring station showed the AQI as 282, but our air quality monitor put the number at 406 – in the 'severe’ category. 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharama presented her ninth budget this Sunday. While it did mention pollution – it was mostly in terms of monitoring infrastructure. 

The Narendra Modi government proposed a budget of Rs 1,091 crore for FY  2026-27 to strengthen monitoring and implementation of pollution control measures across  air, water and noise pollution categories. Over a thousand new air quality monitoring stations are to be added to the existing network of 2,011 stations. 

But does measurement alone mean clean air? Because the union government’s Rs 1,091 crore allocation is actually Rs 209 crore less than the revised estimate of Rs 1,300 crore in 2025–26. Notably, the original allocation for pollution control in 2025–26 was only Rs 853.9 crore, which was later increased.

All this as Delhi repetitively continues to bear the worsening PM 2.5 levels.

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