Delhi air quality: Toxic smoke envelops capital after Indians celebrate Diwali night with fireworks

Indian capital New Delhi was wrapped in a thick layer of smoke on Friday, after revellers flouted a ban and set off millions of fireworks to celebrate the Hindu festival of lights, Diwali.

Average air quality levels in the city were recorded at almost 400 on the Air Quality Index, said the Central Pollution Control Board, India’s leading environmental watchdog, as fireworks were set off throughout Thursday and into the early hours of Friday. Anything above 50 AQI is considered harmful, with 300 or above deemed a health hazard.

“There is a black cloud because of pollution,” Mahesh Yadav, a 19-year-old student visiting Delhi’s iconic India Gate war memorial, told The National. "Nothing is clearly visible. My eyes are burning and it is because people can't stop bursting crackers. They should abide by the law. Look at the pollution levels, it is suffocating.”

Diwali, the festival of lights, is traditionally celebrated by lighting earthen lamps but locals increasingly burst fireworks.

Although the sale, use and manufacture of fireworks is banned by the Delhi authorities, residents flouted the ban and set off millions of firecrackers, worsening air and noise pollution levels. That led to people coughing and wheezing, while many complained of stinging eyes and burning throats.

The PM 2.5 concentration in the city was 202 microns per cubic meter, as per the IQAir – a Swiss air quality technology company that analyses global air quality data. These fine particles penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream and are blamed for chronic respiratory and cardiac diseases.

The World Health Organisation in its revised guideline considers 5 micrograms per cubic metre as the safe level of exposure to particulate pollution.

A similar deterioration of air quality was seen in the cities of Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Faridabad.

New Delhi, home to 22 million residents, has been repeatedly dubbed as the world’s most polluted capital cities in recent years. It suffers from air pollution throughout the year but toxic air levels spike during winter due to fireworks and with smoke from farm stubble fires. The Supreme Court had banned fireworks that contain toxic substances like lead, arsenic and barium in 2018 but allowed use of less polluting varieties. It also called Delhi a “gas chamber” in 2019 over its deteriorating air quality.

Authorities, as well as police, had deployed dozens of teams to enforce the ban on firecrackers across the capital, but many people breached the rules, Delhi’s Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Friday.

"The current Air Quality Index level is concerning. Four days ago, Delhi's AQI surpassed 350, and there was fear that it would exceed 400 the day after Diwali, Mr Rai said.

“The government was making efforts to prevent this. The people of Delhi celebrated Diwali but refrained from bursting firecrackers, but many still burst crackers. If they had co-operated, the levels would have been lower,” he said.

Delhi’s air pollution has become a public health hazard with hospitals recording an increased number of patients with respiratory diseases during winters.

The government has pledged to clean up the city’s air and introduced a slew of measures including switching to electric buses, at times banning construction but people in Delhi continue to face the brunt of the man-made hazard especially during the festive season.