Delhi struggles with enforcement, violations of time, ‘green’ firecracker curbs worsen pollution
What happened
Air in parts of Delhi became badly toxic after Diwali fireworks, with fine-particle readings in one neighbourhood climbing past 58 times the daily limit the WHO recommends, according to air monitor data.
The peak reading came in Mandir Marg, where cancer-causing PM 2.5 particles reached 879 micrograms per cubic metre around eight hours after the fireworks peaked, according to IQAir.
Before the festival, the city's average Air Quality Index stood at 376 on Sunday, in the 'very poor' band, up from 369 a day earlier, Hindustan Times reported.
Twelve of the 59 monitoring stations that reported data on Sunday were already in the 'severe' category, with Jahangirpuri worst at 463.
Delhi's early warning system forecasts 'severe' air for several days from November 9, with unfavourable weather, vehicle emissions and stubble burning in nearby states adding to the festival's effect.
India's environment ministry attributes 23% of Delhi's winter pollution to vehicles and 20% to biomass burning, including farm stubble fires; the Supreme Court had permitted limited use of low-emission 'green' firecrackers.
Summary written by AI from 3 independent sources (Hindustan Times, Straits Times, IOL) and checked automatically against them for copied text and numbers that are not in the sources. How we work
Open on the live globe →Who reported it
- 2026-11-08 15:25 UTCTimes of India · timesofindia.indiatimes.com ↗
- 2026-11-09 01:38 UTCNYT · nytimes.com ↗
- 2026-11-09 03:30 UTCHindustan Times · hindustantimes.com ↗
- 2026-11-09 04:35 UTCAl Jazeera · aljazeera.com ↗
- 2026-11-09 04:40 UTCStraits Times · straitstimes.com ↗
- 2026-11-09 04:58 UTCIOL · iol.co.za ↗
- 2026-11-09 05:05 UTCCNA · channelnewsasia.com ↗
- 2026-11-09 05:34 UTCArab News · arabnews.com ↗
- 2026-11-09 07:12 UTCDW · dw.com ↗
- 2026-11-09 11:18 UTCCBC · cbc.ca ↗
- 2026-11-09 12:41 UTCArab Times · arabtimesonline.com ↗
- 2026-11-09 13:27 UTCFrance 24 · france24.com ↗
- 2026-11-09 15:09 UTCNPR via AP · npr.org ↗
- 2026-11-09 17:02 UTCMongabay via AP · news.mongabay.com ↗
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