Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES)

Air pollution is a serious social problem, especially in major cities. To understand the gravity of air pollution problems, a System of Air Quality forecasting and Research (SAFAR) was set up by the Ministry. It provides location specific information on air quality in near real time and its forecast 24 hours in advance. Monitoring and forecasting by SAFAR is done for major gaseous pollutants including ozone, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, benzene and other hydrocarbons as well as the particulate matters (PM) of two different sizes — as PM-10 and PM-2.5.