Delhi’s air quality turns ‘hazardous’ after Diwali

GBNEWS24DESK//

Air pollution levels shot up to dangerous levels in New Delhi on Friday morning after Diwali night, according to the federal air quality index, report dw.com and ANI.

A barrage of firecrackers exploded in the sky that night to celebrate the festival.

The bursting of crackers further aggravated the degrading air quality in the city. Several people in the national capital reportedly complained of itchy throat and watery eyes after a thick blanket of smog shrouded the Delhi skies.

Delhi had banned firecrackers during Diwali in September given Delhi’s poor air quality.

Every year, India’s top court and other authorities ban firecrackers during the occasion. But experts say they’ve to be fiercely implemented since people end up defying the ban.

What the air quality index reading looked like

The National Air Quality Index (AQI) surged to 451 on a scale of 500 in Delhi, the maximum that was recorded this year.

This meant that conditions were “severe” enough to affect healthy people and seriously affect those with underlying conditions, according to the federal pollution control board’s guidance.

The AQI measures the concentration of fine particular matter, which is known as PM2.5, in a cubic meter of air.

On Friday, the average concentration of PM2.5 in Delhi was 706 micrograms. For comparison, the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines deem anything above an annual average of 5 micrograms as unsafe.

Additionally, air quality worsens during this time because it coincides with the practice of stubble burning in the farmlands of Delhi’s neighboring states of Punjab and Haryana.