A thick blanket of smog covered India's capital on Monday after firecrackers lit the skies over New Delhi during Diwali, adding to already dangerous seasonal pollution, NPR reported. Despite restrictions on fireworks, residents celebrated the Hindu festival of lights with firecrackers on Sunday evening. The air quality index exceeded 350 in several parts of the capital on Monday morning, reaching the severe category. Monitoring stations across the city recorded similarly alarming levels, and visibility dropped as a gray haze settled over streets and high-rises.
India's Supreme Court had tried in October to limit Diwali pollution by restricting conventional firecrackers and allowing only approved "green firecrackers," under specified conditions, in three-hour windows on Saturday and Sunday. Those crackers produce fewer emissions, but they are not pollution-free. They still release particulate matter and other pollutants into air that is already hazardous. Isyad, a New Delhi resident who uses one name, told NPR the smog was taking a toll. "Because of the pollution there is irritation in the throat and itching in the eyes," he said.
New Delhi and its metropolitan region, home to more than 30 million people, regularly rank among the world's most polluted places in winter. The problem sharpens when Diwali fireworks coincide with cooler weather and smoke from crop-residue fires in neighboring Punjab and Haryana. After harvesting rice, farmers often burn leftover stalks to clear fields for the next crop. That smoke drifts toward the capital and mixes with pollution from vehicles, industry, and construction dust. In late October and November, cooler temperatures, low wind, and stagnant air keep the haze from dispersing, sometimes for days.
Authorities in New Delhi have limited construction and restricted diesel generators, and courts have tried to curb fireworks. Those steps have not stopped the severe pollution from returning each year. Environmentalists argue that longer-term changes, including cleaner energy and tighter vehicle-emission rules, are what would break the cycle. Shweta Narayan, a public health expert at the Global Climate and Health Alliance, described the government's response so far as "knee-jerk" and "temporary." "A lot of interventions happen only because the government is pressured or pushed in a corner to do something," she said. The verified snapshot is an AQI above 350 the morning after Diwali, a court policy that still allowed greener fireworks, and a seasonal mix of crackers, stubble smoke, and trapped air that the capital has not escaped.
The fireworks were only one day's addition to a longer seasonal pileup. Stubble smoke, traffic, and still winter air would have been a problem without Diwali; the crackers made a bad week worse. That is why an AQI above 350 the morning after the festival is both a festival story and a recurring winter story, and why Narayan's criticism is aimed at the pattern of short-term crackdowns rather than at a single night of fireworks.