Delhi's AQI Turns Hazardous On The Morning After Diwali, Residents Gasp For Breath

Delhi and the National Capital Region work up to a heavily hazy morning on Friday, a day after the Diwali celebrations. Despite the restrictions on bursting firecrackers and appeals to discourage their use, a large section of the residents did not pay heed to it.

As a result, on Friday morning, the air quality of Delhi was at severe levels. The overall AQI of Delhi stood at a scary 774 at 7 am, as per the Central Pollution Control Board's data.

AP

AQI 1645 at 1 am

At one point, the average AQI for the city touched an alarming 1645 around 1 am during the peak of the firecrackers bursting.

The pollution levels remained well above the hazardous mark across the city, with Nehru Stadium (1103), Okhla (1100) and ITO (948) recording some of the worst PM2.5 levels.

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.

AFP

"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 said.

"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 two major factors of pollution today.

Reuters

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.

People from several parts of the capital and its suburbs complained of headache, itchy throat and watery eyes, as the thick layer of smog partially blotted out the sun in the morning.

AFP

Sick of the lack of commitment to making the capital more livable, Ambrish Mithal, a doctor at the Max HealthCare hospital in New Delhi, vented his frustration over the deteriorating AQI readings.

"It's terrible for those with allergies and asthma. We will continue to squabble over reasons and are doomed to suffer," he wrote in a post on Twitter.

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