Delhi’s air quality deteriorated sharply after Diwali celebrations on Sunday with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) recording a citywide Air Quality Index (AQI) of 483 on Monday morning. Of the 51 monitoring stations that recorded data, 14 were in the ‘severe’ category, four in the ‘poor’ category and the remaining 33 in the ‘very poor’ category.

However, private monitoring platforms reported readings above 1000, in areas such as Shahdara and Defence Colony.  Some reports also claimed that the pollution levels reached as much as 1700-2000 for a few hours following the Diwali celebration. The difference was largely due to variations in AQI calculation methods, monitoring locations, and data availability.