Day after Diwali, Delhi air marginally cleaner than 2024 but stays very poor

New Delhi: Delhi woke up on Tuesday to air that remained in the “very poor” bracket across most busy pockets, even as GRAP-2 stayed in force. 

A six-location snapshot between around 7 am and 9 am showed Akshardham at 358, India Gate at 342, RK Puram at 330, INA-AIIMS at 368, Dilli Haat INA at 368 and ITO at 259. The simple average of these six points comes to about 338, placing conditions firmly in “very poor”.

Set against last year’s day-after-Diwali morning, the comparison is meaningful. On November 1, 2024, Delhi’s citywide AQI at 9 am was 362 and the 24-hour average by 4 pm was 339. 

Today’s six-point morning mean of ~338 is around 7 per cent lower than the 9 am figure last year and almost identical to the 24-hour average Delhi recorded by late afternoon in 2024. 

In spread terms, five of the six sites today were “very poor” (about 83 per cent of locations sampled), closely mirroring last year when 32 of 40 stations across the city were “very poor” (80 per cent).

Location-wise, the pattern is consistent with 2024’s day-after profile. High-footfall corridors such as INA-AIIMS and Dilli Haat INA sat near the upper end of “very poor” this morning, while ITO registered “poor” at 259. Notably, none of today’s sampled sites breached “severe”. 

As per CPCB’s scale, 301-400 is “very poor” and 401-450 is “severe”; therefore, India Gate’s 342 falls in “very poor”.

The official citywide 24-hour average for today will be clearer later in the day when CPCB publishes the rolling number. 

Last year, winds aided dispersion through the afternoon and kept the daily average below the “severe” mark. 

With GRAP-2 restrictions active and enforcement focused on dust control and non-essential diesel generator use, agencies are expected to maintain pressure across traffic corridors and construction hotspots through the evening peak.