The Delhi sky lit up on Thursday night as people celebrated Diwali defying a ban on firecrackers. Areas including Lajpat Nagar, Kalkaji, Chhatarpur, Jaunapur, East of Kailash, Saket, Rohini, Dwarka, Punjabi Bagh, Vikas Puri, Dilshad Garden, Burari and many other neighbourhoods of east and west Delhi saw firecrackers being burst.
At 9 pm, Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded at 327, with Alipur, Anand Vihar, Ashok Vihar, Aaya Nagar, Bawana, Burari, Mathura Road, IGI Airport, Dwarka, Jahangirpuri, Mundka, Narela, Patparganj, Rohini, Shadipur, Sonia Vihar, Wazirpur, Mandir Marg, Nehru Nagar, Najafgarh and other weather-monitoring stations witnessing "very poor" air quality, according to the Sameer app that provides hourly updates of the National AQI published by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
With the 24-hour AQI recorded at 328 at 4 pm, Delhi experienced its worst air quality on Diwali in the last three years. Following the practice of the last four years, the city government announced a comprehensive ban on the manufacture, storage, sale and use of firecrackers earlier this month.
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Delhiites woke up to a sky shrouded in a thick layer of smog on Diwali morning as the air quality continued to deteriorate, remaining in the "very poor" category with a recorded AQI of 328 at 4 pm. In Delhi's neighbouring areas, such as Faridabad, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Noida, the air quality was slightly better, falling in the "poor" category. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", 401 and 450 "severe" and above 450 "severe-plus".
Unfavourable meteorological conditions, combined with vehicular emissions, paddy-straw burning, firecrackers and other local pollution sources, contribute to hazardous air quality levels in Delhi-NCR during winters.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI)
