North India pollution LIVE updates: Day after Diwali, air quality plummets to ‘hazardous’ in Delhi

The air quality on Thursday morning deteriorated to ‘hazardous’ in Delhi NCR, with Anand Vihar recording 999 AQI, Chanakyapuri at 459, and areas around Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium at 999. This comes despite the guidelines by the Supreme Court as Delhiites continued to burst firecrackers long after the deadline set by the Apex Court, leading to a “very poor” air quality.

The air quality on Thursday morning deteriorated to ‘hazardous’ in Delhi NCR, with Anand Vihar recording 999 AQI, Chanakyapuri at 459, and areas around Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium at 999. This comes despite the guidelines by the Supreme Court as Delhiites continued to burst firecrackers long after the deadline set by the Apex Court, leading to a “very poor” air quality.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the air quality was recorded at 302 at 11 pm, which fell in the ‘very poor’ category.

The air quality started deteriorating rapidly from 7 pm. The AQI was 281 at 7 pm. It rose to 291 at 8 pm and further deteriorated to 294 at 9 pm and 296 at 10 pm, according to the CPCB.

A “very poor” AQI essentially means that people may suffer from respiratory illnesses on a prolonged exposure to such air. If the air quality dips further, the AQI will turn “severe”, which may trouble even those with sound health conditions and seriously affect those with ailments.

As many as 209 calls were received by the Delhi Fire Services on Diwali, including one related to a huge fire in a factory at Bawana, officials said. Of these, 89 calls were related to fire incidents at garbage and dump yards, while the rest were related to fire incidents involving electric wires, at factories and residential areas, a senior Delhi Fire Services officer was quoted as saying by PTI.

Expressing concern over the poor air quality, the Supreme Court had restricted bursting of firecrackers to between 8 pm to 10 pm on Diwali and other festivals. The apex court had ordered that only “green crackers”, which have a low light and sound emission and less harmful chemicals, can be sold in NCR.

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