Two Indian cities collaborated New Delhi to be among the world’s worst 10 for pollution on Monday morning, due to smoke heavy in the air a day after revellers let loose with firecrackers for Diwali – the yearly Hindu festival of light. The capital New Delhi took, as it often does, the top spot. It had an air quality index (AQI) figure of 407, leading it to be in the hazardous category, according to Swiss group IQAir. Financial capital Mumbai came in sixth with an AQI of 157, while Kolkata in the east was seventh with an AQI of 154.
An AQI level of 400 to 500 affects healthy people and is perilous to those with existing diseases, while a level of 150 to 200 brings unease to people with asthma, lung and heart problems. Levels of 0 to 50 are recognised as fine. A thick layer of smog had began to circulate in New Delhi on Sunday night, sending its AQI to an threatening 680 a little after midnight. Every year, the authorities enforce bans on firecrackers in the capital, but only rarely do those bans appear to be enforced. Lawmaker Saket Gokhale posted a letter on X, previously recognised as Twitter, in which he had asked the local police for in depth data on the number of cases of use of firecrackers, and action taken in opposition to perpetrators.
The Delhi police spokesperson held back and did not reply many calls made by Reuters asking for remarks. Air quality in northern India worsens every year ahead of winter, when cold air traps pollutants from vehicles, industry, construction dust and agricultural waste burning. New Delhi’s authorities postponed an earlier decision to hinder use of vehicles, after a brief spell of rain on Friday brought some respite from a week-long exposure to toxic air. The local government said it plans to maintain its hindrance on construction activities and to keep schools shut off to save people from the toxic polluted air.