Delhi bursts crackers despite restrictions, AQI to remain ‘severe’

New Delhi: Despite restrictions, several parts of Delhi continued to witness cracker-bursting till late Sunday evening, November 8, as people celebrated Diwali, with reports of fireworks emerging from areas including Pitampura, Burari, Mayur Vihar and the posh Lutyens’ Delhi.

Ahead of Diwali, the Delhi government had appealed to people to comply with the Supreme Court’s directions on the sale and use of green firecrackers.

The district magistrate (East), in an order, permitted the bursting of green firecrackers only on November 7 and 8, between 6 am and 7 am and 8 pm and 10 pm.

Residents reported the use of firecrackers in outer Delhi’s Pitampura and Burari, with the intensity particularly high in Burari.

Similar reports came from Mayur Vihar, while people in the Bishambardas Marg area and Lutyens’ Delhi said fireworks continued, although the intensity had reduced slightly as the day wore on.

The city’s air quality remained in the very poor category, with the instantaneous Air Quality Index (AQI) recorded at 371 at 7 pm, close to the severe threshold.

Of the 59 monitoring stations, 19 were in the ‘severe’ category at 7 pm, seven in the ‘poor’ category, and the remaining 33 in the ‘very poor’ category.

Jahangirpuri recorded the highest AQI at 460.

The city’s average AQI for the day settled at 376 in the ‘very poor’ category, compared to 369 on Saturday, amid a layer of smog and reduced visibility.

The court prohibited bursting of firecrackers within 300 metres of hospitals, nursing homes, health centres, old-age homes, educational institutions and other notified silence zones.

Only CSIR-NEERI-certified green firecrackers were permitted for sale, with the administration directing that they be sold exclusively at locations designated by the Delhi Police.

The administration had also announced joint patrolling and enforcement teams comprising district officials and Delhi Police personnel to check unauthorised sale and use of prohibited firecrackers.

Meanwhile, the Air Quality Early Warning System (EWS) has forecast that Delhi’s air quality is likely to slip into the ‘severe’ category from November 9 and remain there for the subsequent few days.

Weather and air quality experts have attributed the anticipated deterioration to unfavourable meteorological conditions, vehicular emissions, Diwali celebrations and the ongoing peak stubble-burning season in neighbouring states.

PM2.5 remained the predominant pollutant in the national capital on Sunday, with firecracker emissions adding to the particulate matter levels.

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