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Delhi in Red Zone: After Diwali night, the air of Delhi has become very bad. In terms of AQI, experts have predicted the next 4 days to be worse.
21 October, 2025
Delhi in Red Zone: On the night of Diwali, Delhi was twinkling with the sky, but as soon as the fireworks stopped, the air of the city groaned again. By late Monday night, Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) reached dangerous levels. Not only this, almost the entire city was registered in ‘Red Zone’. According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), 36 out of 38 monitoring centers in Delhi recorded the air condition from very poor to severe level.
Delhi’s air gets worse
The average AQI of Delhi at 10 pm was 344, which falls in the very poor category. At the same time, pollution level in four areas like Dwarka (417), Ashok Vihar (404), Wazirpur (423) and Anand Vihar (404) was recorded in severe category. Delhi’s 24-hour average AQI was recorded at 345 at 4 pm on Monday, which is more than 326 on Sunday. By noon time, the air quality was found to be very poor at 31 out of 38 centers and at severe level at 3 centres.
What do experts say?
According to environmental experts, the situation is likely to worsen on Tuesday and Wednesday. Cold winds and slowly spreading smoke are trapping the pollution, causing the smog layer to become deeper. According to CPCB’s Decision Support System (DSS) data, smoke from transportation contributes 15.6% to Delhi’s air pollution and smoke from industries and other activities contributes 23.3%. Apart from this, the smoke emanating from firecrackers has further increased all these, due to which the air of Delhi has once again become poisonous.
Government again applied ‘GRAP’ brake
Amid increasing pollution, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Sunday implemented the second phase of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). Under this scheme, steps like ban on construction work, ban on burning of garbage and monitoring of diesel vehicles are being taken in Delhi-NCR.
green guidelines
On October 15, the Supreme Court had given permission to burn green crackers from 6 to 7 am and 8 to 10 pm on Diwali in Delhi-NCR. But the reality is that this rule was ignored in many parts of the city. Now the air of the entire city is suffering its effects. It can be said that amidst the splendor of the festival, poisonous smoke is still floating in the air. The people of Delhi are once again faced with the same old question: celebrate, but how to breathe?
