Delhi woke up on Diwali morning to a thick blanket of toxic haze, as firecrackers set off a day before the festival pushed the city’s air quality to the brink of the ‘severe’ category, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) at 383.
Jahangirpuri recorded the highest AQI at 450, followed by RK Puram at 448, according to the Sameer app. The Supreme Court’s order, made public on November 2, permits certified green crackers for one hour in the morning and two in the evening on Saturday and Sunday; the court said a complete ban had neither significantly improved the air nor stopped the illegal sale of conventional crackers, and that the right to religious practice remained subject to the right to health.
Twenty-four of the 54 monitoring stations across the city recorded “severe” air quality while the remaining stations stood in the “very poor” category, PTI reported.
Like last year, firecrackers have been allowed for Diwali.
