Diwali eve crackers leave Delhi under a toxic haze, air quality nears ‘severe’

Delhi woke up on Diwali morning to a thick blanket of toxic haze, as firecrackers set off a day before the festival pushed the city’s air quality to the brink of the ‘severe’ category, with the air quality index (AQI) at 383.

Twenty-four of the 54 monitoring stations across the city recorded “severe” air quality while the remaining stations stood in the “very poor” category”, PTI reported. Jahangirpuri recorded the highest AQI at 450, followed by RK Puram at 448, according to the Sameer app.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), an AQI between zero 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'.

Like last year, firecrackers have been allowed for Diwali. The Supreme Court’s order, made public on November 2, permits the sale of certified green firecrackers in Delhi-NCR between November 4 and 6, and their bursting only between 6am and 7am and 8pm and 10pm on November 7 and 8. A complete ban is to be restored from November 9.

On Saturday, the AQI was 369 – “very poor” – at 4pm on the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) 0-500 scale and the highest for the day before Diwali since 2016, when it was 404. Measured pollution first peaked on Saturday morning: between 10am and 11am, PM2.5 — the fine particulate matter small enough to lodge deep in the lungs — averaged 295 micrograms per cubic metre across Delhi’s 59 monitoring stations, and 36 of them were above 250, where CPCB’s “severe” band for PM2.5 begins.

Farm fires in Punjab and Haryana also climbed to their highest this season on Saturday — and the Isro satellite’s count rose for a 10th straight day, the ground wind fell calm after sunset, and within two hours of the first evening window for firecrackers opening at 8pm, the city’s air was 30% dirtier than a night earlier.

The air quality is likely to remain in the 'severe' category on November 8 and 9, the Air Quality Early Warning System (EWS) for Delhi said.