Delhi Faces Severe Air Quality Crisis Post Diwali Amid Smog Blanket

Delhi's air quality plunged to severe levels following Diwali, with AQI exceeding 400. Experts declare a public health emergency as toxic smog persists, exacerbated by firecracker emissions and unfavorable meteorological conditions in the region.

Delhi Declared Public Health Emergency

A day after Diwali celebrations, environmentalists have termed Delhi's deteriorating air quality a "public health emergency", warning that firecracker emissions have further aggravated an already severe pollution situation, with unfavourable meteorological conditions likely to keep pollutants trapped over the national capital for the next few days.

Residents of the national capital woke up to a thick blanket of smog, as air quality deteriorated to the 'severe' category at several monitoring stations, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) crossing 400 in multiple areas and visibility remaining poor during the early morning hours. According to CPCB classification, an AQI between 0 and 50 is considered 'good', 51-100 'satisfactory', 101-200 'moderate', 201-300 'poor', 301-400 'very poor' and 401-500 'severe'.

Environmental Impact and Official Response

Speaking to ANI, Environmentalist Bhavreen Kandhari said Delhi was already struggling with toxic air before Diwali and that the bursting of firecrackers had added another massive burden of particulate pollution, posing serious challenges for people suffering from respiratory problems and other disorders. "Delhi's air has again become a public health emergency. The celebrations may be over, but the pollutants continue to stay and that has become quite a challenge for people who have problems with breathing and various disorders," Kandhari said.

Highlighting the limitations of the official Air Quality Index (AQI) scale, she said the scale goes up to 500, with readings above 400 falling in the 'Severe' category, as it does not measure pollution beyond that level. "The official AQI scale has gone up to 500; anything above 400 is classified as 'Severe' because it doesn't measure anything beyond. But the numbers which people and citizens have been showing through social media are horrific. Even PM 2.5 yesterday went from 300 in the morning to about 1000 at night," she said.

Kandhari further said the situation had become more alarming because Delhi's air quality was already poor before Diwali, and the additional emissions from firecrackers had worsened the crisis. "What makes this even more alarming is that Delhi was already struggling with toxic air before Diwali, which we were repeatedly saying, and now firecrackers have added another massive burden of particulate pollution. So, with the meteorological conditions right now, it is unable to disperse. They are going to stay with us," she said.

Pointing to the early warning system's forecast of severe air quality for the next few days, Kandhari said the deterioration was not unexpected, as authorities were aware of unfavourable weather conditions and inadequate enforcement. "The early warning system has forecast severe air quality for the next few days. This is not unexpected; we knew the meteorological conditions were unfavourable. We knew enforcement was inadequate. Yet, once again, this was permitted and it is strange that while Government takes such strict measures for reducing emissions, it permits actually adding these very unnecessary horrific emissions that end up being like this every year," she added.

Critique of Enforcement Measures

Meanwhile, environmentalist Vimlendu Jha also criticised the failure to enforce restrictions on firecrackers, saying that despite the Supreme Court's directions, crackers were burst in several parts of Delhi on Diwali night. "Despite the restrictions of the Supreme Court, we saw last night that firecrackers were lit in different areas of Delhi. And the AQI index, almost 500, the government figures had exceeded 500," Jha said.

He said private air quality monitoring devices recorded significantly higher pollution levels during the night and on Sunday morning, with readings ranging between 1,000 and 1,500. "So, it is a very unfortunate situation that, despite the instructions of the Supreme Court, it was not made available. And the situation that was already very serious, which means we say that we were already in a severe condition, in a hazardous condition, that situation has worsened even more the next morning, which is today," he said.

Explaining the contribution of firecrackers to the pollution spike, Jha said that while AQI levels were around 400 before the celebrations, readings on private monitors rose to between 1,200 and 1,500 after approximately three hours of firecracker bursting. "This means that the concentrations of PM2.5 level have increased by at least 4 times. So, the firecrackers had a very big contribution," he said.

He acknowledged that the impact of firecrackers might last for one to three days but stressed that the immediate spike in particulate matter could be substantial. "There are many studies in which it has been said that it has increased by 20-30 times; that is, PM2.5 has been found to be more than that. If you look at the WHO experts, then PM2.5 has been found to be 100 times more in different parts of Delhi on Diwali night," Jha said.

Broader Regional Crisis and Solutions

He added that firecrackers had compounded the pollution caused by Delhi's perennial sources of emissions. "There is a lot of responsibility of firecrackers in this; there is a lot of contribution in this. And along with that, we have also added gold to Delhi's perennial sources, which are pollutants for the entire year. We have lit firecrackers and made the situation worse," he said.

Jha emphasised that air pollution was not confined to Delhi or determined by political boundaries, but affected the entire region and the Indo-Gangetic Plain. "I repeatedly say that this is not just a problem of Delhi, because air pollution does not follow a political boundary. So, this is not just a problem of Delhi; it is a problem of the entire region. In fact, it is a problem of the entire Indo-Gangetic Plane," he said.

He criticised both the Central and state governments for not intervening adequately and relying largely on bans, restrictions and measures under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) throughout the year. "So, if you look at it, the central government and all the respective state governments have also not intervened in the way it is. Most of the time, you will see that we only depend on bans, restrictions, and GRAP measures throughout the year. And we feel that we will solve this problem," he said.

Calling the situation a health emergency, Jha warned that extremely high particulate matter concentrations could have serious consequences, particularly for children. "Ideally, this is already an ideal case. This is already a health emergency situation. Because if you look at PM 2.5, if it will be 1200-1400, then it means that some action should be taken. And this is fatal for people. 1200-1500 AQI is not normal. As it was also said in the Supreme Court that children's lungs are also turning brown or black," he said.

He further warned that pollution levels were unlikely to improve immediately and could deteriorate further if wind speeds declined and temperatures dropped. "This is an absolute health emergency situation and the situation is not going to get better. The situation will be like this for the next 3-4 days. And when you see that the wind speed will decrease and the temperature will also drop further, then the situation will get worse," he added.

Drawing comparisons with cities that have addressed severe air pollution, Jha cited Beijing and London, saying their governments had introduced structural changes and adopted systematic approaches to tackle the problem. "If you look at Beijing and London, these two cities have brought a lot of structural changes in themselves. First of all, they allocated funds and resources. Along with that, they solved this problem in a systematic, decisive and scientific way. And now their air pollution crisis is almost over," he said.

He stressed that addressing India's pollution crisis required political will, adequate funding and a coordinated approach covering the entire airshed, rather than focusing only on Delhi. "So, if the government has political willpower, if such funds will be allocated, and not just for Delhi, but for the whole of India, and unless we take an air-shed approach, unless we connect it with public health, we cannot solve this problem," he said.

On the possibility of artificial rain as a measure to tackle Delhi's pollution, Jha said authorities should focus on controlling the sources of emissions instead of relying on temporary interventions. "What I am saying is that we will have to work on the source, not on the symptom. Artificial rain is a very expensive proposition. Along with that, there is no verified data on it. We can say that air pollution has been solved somewhere because of this," he said.

Referring to experiments in Beijing and elsewhere, he said cloud seeding was primarily used for drought control and could not be considered a proven solution to urban air pollution. "But largely, the use of artificial rain is for drought control. And along with that, when there is cloud seeding through chemicals, and then there is artificial rain, you can give it a little time," he said.

He also dismissed measures such as smoke towers, smoke guns and water sprinkling on roads as solutions to the larger crisis. "It is very important for us to understand that whether it is cloud seeding, or smoke towers, or smoke guns, or whatever else is sprinkled on the roads, the sprinkling of water is not the solution to this crisis," he said. "If Delhi has a gas chamber, there is almost an air emergency; we cannot solve it with just a temporary one-hour rain and two-hour rain," he added.

On measures such as the odd-even traffic scheme and work-from-home arrangements, Jha said such restrictions could bring down pollution only marginally and were inadequate to tackle the scale of the crisis. "Restrictions can reduce 1 to 2%. But the kind of problem we are talking about is the AQI levels. If we look at the government measurement, then 500 AQI has been exceeded. And along with that, if we look at the private monitors, there were readings up to 1200-1400 in PM2.5 private monitors," he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianetnews Editorial staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)