Delhi Wakes Up To ‘Hazardous’ Air Quality, Day After Diwali

A man rides a bicycle on a smoggy morning near India Gate in New Delhi

The air quality in Delhi’s Janpath has reached the ‘hazardous’ category on Friday (November 5) morning, following the festival of Diwali. The concentrations of Pollution Meter (PM) 2.5 stood at 655.07 in Janpath this morning.

As a thick blanket of smog shrouds the skies of Delhi, several people complained of itchy throats and watery eyes.

Despite the Delhi government’s ban on firecrackers, several people were seen bursting crackers on the streets on the occasion of Diwali, contributing to the degradation of the air quality, amid increased contribution from farm fires.

Visuals of people bursting firecrackers surfaced from Delhi’s Barapullah flyover, Adhchini and Greater Kailash, among other areas.

As per the Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the air quality would not improve until Sunday evening (November 7). The improvement would, however, just fluctuate in the ‘Very Poor’ category.

“The overall air quality of Delhi is plunged into the upper end of very poor category…It will continue to fall now and may enter at the edge of the “very poor” to “severe” category by tonight…,” SAFAR informed.

“If firecrackers are burned even 50 per cent of last year then PM2.5 will enter ‘severe’ category by midnight and shoot up rapidly by today early morning with AQI even crossing 500+,” it added.

The extremely calm wind conditions in Delhi combined with a 25 per cent stubble share (fire count 2293) are the two major factors of pollution today.

As per the SAFAR model forecast, the stubble share will touch ~35 per cent today (November 5) and ~40 per cent on November 6 and November 7. “Relief is expected only from the evening of November 7 but AQI will fluctuate within the ‘Very Poor’ range,” it said.