The air was monitored for two consecutive periods, in the dry and the rainy seasons (2009-2010) at 40 petroleum-filling stations in the Indian capital, Delhi, to assess variations in carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, PM10, PM2.5, benzene, toluene and xylene content. PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations exceeded the national ambient air quality standards at all the monitoring locations with maximum values of 1105 and 625 μg m−3, respectively, in the dry season.

As part of the System of Air quality Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) project developed for air quality forecasting during the Commonwealth Games (CWG) – 2010, a high resolution Emission Inventory (EI) of PM10 and PM2.5 has been developed for the metropolitan city Delhi for the year 2010. The comprehensive inventory involves detailed activity data and developed for a domain of 70 km × 65 km with a 1.67 km × 1.67 km resolution covering Delhi and surrounding region using Geographical Information System (GIS) technique.