New Delhi Records Most Polluted Diwali in Five Years

New Delhi recorded its most polluted Diwali in five years, with air quality reaching levels that private monitoring agencies described as extremely hazardous across the Delhi-NCR region. The pollution spike coincided with the failure of firework time restrictions previously mandated by the Supreme Court of India.

Official air quality index figures likely underestimated the severity of the event because several government monitoring stations went offline on Sunday night during the peak period of firecracker use. This technical failure left a gap in official data exactly when pollution levels were highest.

Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director of the Centre for Science and Environment, called the failure of the monitoring network to provide real-time readings inexplicable. She noted that the lack of credible data was particularly concerning given the substantial public investment dedicated to the system's maintenance.