Pollution in India’s capital Delhi has jumped 59 times over the World Health Organisation’s prescribed safe limit after the festival of Diwali, pushing air quality in the city to toxic levels, the Hindustan Times reported on Monday.
The pollution level, measured as PM2.5 concentration, stood above 300 in Delhi overall — a level considered ‘very poor’ in terms of air quality, HT said. In some areas of the city, air quality was far worse, nearing levels over 600 which are considered hazardous.
The high levels of pollution, brought on partly by Delhi residents defying a ban on firecrackers to celebrate the Hindu festival of lights, Diwali, covered the city in a thick blanket of smog.
It also led the Indian capital to top global pollution charts.
But Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said pollution in the capital had not spiked the way as badly as had been expected after Diwali.
Even so, Delhi’s air quality is likely to remain in the “upper end” of the “very poor” category for the remainder of the week, according to India’s Earth Sciences Ministry.
Aside from the firecrackers, stubble burning in north India also contributed to pollution in Delhi as farmers burned waste left after harvesting paddy to quickly clear fields for wheat planting.
- Vishakha Saxena
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