Delhi Wakes Up to Severe Smog a Day After Diwali; ITO Station Crosses 400 as BJP and AAP Trade Barbs

Delhi woke up under a heavy blanket of smog on Monday, 9 November, the morning after Diwali, with air quality at some monitoring stations sliding into the ‘severe’ band and visibility dropping sharply across the city.

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) figures showed the ITO station recording an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 406 at about 4:20 am, which is in the severe range. Other busy locations were only slightly better: Rajiv Chowk logged 381 at 1:30 am and South Extension 360 at around 4 am, both in the ‘very poor’ category.

A bad night after a bad evening

The slide began well before dawn. By 10 pm on Sunday, Diwali night, 20 monitoring stations in the capital were already reading ‘severe’, while the city-wide AQI stood at 371.

Restrictions on firecrackers did not stop people from bursting them. Fireworks were reported on Sunday evening from Pitampura, Burari and Mayur Vihar, and even from parts of Lutyens’ Delhi.

Politics over the haze

As usual, the smog quickly became a political fight between the BJP, which runs the Delhi government, and the Aam Aadmi Party. Former mayor Shelly Oberoi of the AAP said on X that the air had reached dangerous levels and asked how long Delhi residents would have to keep breathing it, calling on the government to act rather than make speeches.

Delhi minister Kapil Mishra hit back, accusing the AAP of running a campaign from Arvind Kejriwal’s residence that used pollution as an excuse to target the Hindu festival of Diwali.

Featured image: Smog in the skies of Delhi, India.jpg by wili hybrid
Original uploader was Lokantha at en.wikipedia.

Later version(s) were uploaded by Nikkul, Thisglad at en.wikipedia., CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Sources

• The Week: Delhi chokes on post-Diwali smog as AQI enters severe category