Delhi’s AQI Worsens to ‘Severe’ Category Amid Diwali Celebrations

IMD has said that light rain and wind is likely to improve the air quality in Delhi-NCR post Diwali.

File photo of smog in Delhi NCR. 

(Photo: PTI)

The air quality in Delhi on Saturday evening, 14 November, worsened to the “severe” category due to stubble burning and bursting of firecrackers, weather officials said.

Delhi's overall AQI hit 421 at 7 PM, according to the Ministry of Earth Sciences' air quality monitor, SAFAR. Earlier, it had said that the PM2.5 concentration in Delhi on Diwali is likely to be the “lowest” in the last four years if no firecrackers are burnt.

Delhi’s 24-hour average AQI was 339 on Friday and 314 on Thursday. In comparison, a 24-hour average AQI of 337 was recorded on last Diwali, and 368 and 400 in the next two days, PTI reported.

The India Meteorological Department's head Kuldeep Srivastava said that the air quality was likely to improve after Diwali under the influence of a western disturbance.

“However, Delhi-NCR's air quality is likely to improve post-Diwali due to an expected increase in the wind speed on Sunday," he told PTI.

The National Green Tribunal had earlier imposed a blanket ban on the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR till 30 November.

Delhi's air quality typically worsens in the months of October and November due to stubble burning in neighbouring states, low wind speeds and local emissions. Firecrackers burst during Diwali adds to the problem.

(With inputs from PTI.)