New Delhi: Delhi woke to Diwali with the air it had spent a week complaining about.
At 6am the city's air quality index stood at 384, according to the Central Pollution Control Board. That is just short of severe. But the average hides the map: 11 of the 23 monitoring stations reporting were already past 400. Punjabi Bagh was the worst at 450, with RK Puram at 449, IIT Delhi 446, Dwarka 444, CRRI Mathura Road 425 and Siri Fort 423. The other 12 sat between 301 and 400. By 7.29am, the area around India Gate read 398.
The reading is being described as the capital's worst pre-Diwali air in ten years. That it has arrived before the fireworks, and not after, is what has worried officials and doctors.
Three things are stacking up: still air that will not disperse pollutants, festive activity and vehicle exhaust, and the peak of stubble burning in neighbouring states. On Saturday the transport sector was the single largest contributor at 21.4%, while stubble burning accounted for 1.7%, a share forecast to rise to 5.4% on Sunday. Satellite data detected 589 crop-residue burning incidents across six states on Friday: Punjab 357, Madhya Pradesh 139, Rajasthan 58, Uttar Pradesh 23, Haryana 9 and Uttarakhand 3.
The Commission for Air Quality Management invoked Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan across Delhi-NCR on Friday, November 6. Most construction and demolition that raises dust is shut, stone crushers and mining are restricted, and BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel four-wheelers face curbs in Delhi and in Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddh Nagar. Classes up to Class V have a hybrid option, and authorities may allow 50% of office staff to work from home.
The health effects are already visible. Dr Randeep Guleria, former director of AIIMS and a pulmonologist, says outpatient numbers have risen by nearly 20% for worsening respiratory problems. "Patients with asthma, COPD and existing heart conditions are experiencing worsening symptoms," he says. What worries him more is who else is walking in: healthy people with no history of respiratory trouble now complaining of throat irritation, breathlessness, wheezing and a persisting cough.
Delhi's hospitals have been put on alert, with additional beds reserved in emergency departments.
For today, only certified green crackers are permitted, in two windows, 6am to 7am and 8pm to 10pm. From Monday, November 9, a complete ban on firecrackers returns to the capital. Whether the festival pushes the average past the 401 mark that defines severe will be known on Monday, when the next city-wide reading is compiled.