On Monday evening, Hyderabad’s air quality data puzzled many. Between 6 and 6.30 p.m., the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) showed the city’s average Air Quality Index (AQI) as 143. However, the highest AQI recorded at the CPCB monitoring station in ICRISAT, Patancheru, was only 138 at the same time. This led to questions on how the highest value could be lower than the average. Third-party platforms like the app ‘aqi.in’ had very different numbers. At the same time, ‘aqi.in’ showed Hyderabad’s average AQI at 214, which is ‘unhealthy.’ By 7 p.m., their reading climbed to 260, while CPCB’s figure barely changed. Local AQI values vary a lot. For example, at 6.30 p.m., Narsingi’s AQI was 436 on ‘aqi.in,’ rated ‘hazardous.’ Nearby Kokapet’s AQI rose to over 300 in an hour. The CPCB showed only 89-90 for Kokapet then. These hotspots are affected by heavy construction dust and traffic pollution. Around 6.30 p.m., areas like Tirumala Nagar, B.N. Reddy Nagar, Kukatpally, and Ameenpur reported AQI levels above 300, per the third-party app. On the same day, ‘aqi.in’ recorded the highest daily average AQI at 314 at 7 a.m., while CPCB’s highest was just 121 at ICRISAT. Pollution in Hyderabad is rising fast. December’s average AQI has increased by 64% from 109 in 2023 to 179 this year. In November, the rise was 74%, from 88 in 2023 to 153 in 2025. The main pollutants are PM10 and PM2.5 from dust, vehicles, industrial fuels, and garbage burning. Telangana Pollution Control Board officials said third-party apps use stricter US Environmental Protection Agency standards, unlike CPCB which follows national standards. This causes differences in AQI readings. They also explained the city’s AQI is averaged from many monitoring stations because air pollution changes quickly and varies by location. Published - December 09, 2025 07:51 pm IST