Delhi’s air quality worsens on Diwali; 34 out of 38 stations in ‘Red Zone’

New Delhi: Delhi’s air quality deteriorated on Diwali, with 34 out of 38 monitoring stations recording pollution levels in the ‘red zone’ on Monday, indicating ‘very poor’ to ‘severe’ air quality in the national capital.

According to official data, Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI), which is reported every day at 4 pm, remained in the ‘very poor’ category at 345, higher than 326 recorded on Sunday.

According to the SAMEER app developed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), four monitoring stations were already in the ‘severe’ category with AQI levels above 400 – Dwarka (417), Ashok Vihar (404), Wazirpur (423) and Anand Vihar (404).

About 30 monitoring stations reported ‘very poor’ air, with AQI levels above 300.

According to the data, air quality was recorded as ‘very poor’ at 31 out of 38 stations in the afternoon, while three stations fell in the ‘severe’ zone.

Air quality is widely expected to reach the ‘severe’ category on Tuesday and Wednesday.

CPCB classifies AQI between 0 and 50 as ‘good’, between 51 and 100 as ‘satisfactory’, between 101 and 200 as ‘moderate’, between 201 and 300 as ‘poor’, between 301 and 400 as ‘very poor’ and between 401 and 500 as ‘severe’.

Decision Support System (DSS) data shows that transport emissions contributed 15.6 per cent to Delhi’s air pollution on Monday, while other factors, including industries, contributed 23.3 per cent.

On Sunday, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) implemented Phase II of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in Delhi-NCR.

The step was taken on Saturday after the review of the sub-committee on GRAP and the forecasts of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM).

On October 15, the Supreme Court allowed the sale and bursting of green crackers between 6 am to 7 pm and again from 8 pm to 10 pm in Delhi-NCR on the eve of Diwali and the day of the festival.