Two days after Diwali, Delhi's air quality index showed some improvement early Wednesday morning. The AQI that had slipped into the very poor category improved to poor at 6 am. However, within hours, it again slipped into the very poor category with an AQI of 349. In Dwarka, the AQI was 314, Pusa Road 388, Lodhi Road 346, Delhi University 324, IGI airport 369, Mathura Road 367 and IIT-Delhi 341.
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", and 401 and 500 "severe".
At 4 pm, on Diwali, the AQI was 312.
Here's the list of AQIs of Delhi's neighbouring cities at 6 am -- Ghaziabad 262, Noida 246, Greater Noida 196, Gurugram 242 and Faridabad 243.
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These cities reported moderate to poor air quality.
Delhi's particulate matter (PM-2.5) levels were three-four times above normal over the last 24 hours.
The Delhi government had imposed a ban on firecrackers on Diwali but the rule was generally flouted in most areas of the national capital. Despite this, the next day, the pollution levels were the lowest since 2015 due to the weather conditions.
In the previous two years, Delhi had reported severe air quality a day after Diwali.
Delhi's AQI on the day after Diwali stood at 360 in 2015, 445 in 2016, 403 in 2017, 390 in 2018, 368 in 2019, 435 in 2020 and 462 in 2021, ANI reported.
