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A week after Diwali, a haze hangs over the city with several parts of New Delhi recording alarming pollution levels between AQI 500 and 600
Traffic moves on a smoggy morning as air pollution spikes in New Delhi. (Image: REUTERS/Bhawika Chhabra)
A week has passed since Diwali, but Delhi’s pollution crisis persists. Even today (Sunday, November 15), as I stepped out to report from the national capital, air quality readings touched 607 in the morning as per the live dashboard on AQI.in.
A haze hangs over the city, with several parts of New Delhi recording alarming pollution levels between AQI 500 and 600.
But to understand how this week unfolded, I have to go back to the morning after Diwali. The first thing I did before stepping out was prepare myself for the air I was about to breathe.
I had switched to an N99 mask, fitted with three filters, because an ordinary N95 one hardly seemed reassuring anymore. Even during the cab ride, visibility was severely affected.
The familiar Delhi skyline was swallowed by a thick layer of smog, making it difficult to see beyond 100 to 200 metres. I remember asking the driver to slow down because navigating roads in such poor visibility felt risky.
And when I reached India Gate, the pollution readings hovered around 1,700 on AQI.in. In several other parts of the city, readings had crossed 1,500.
It was a grim start to the morning after the festival of lights. And it was certainly an alarming sight, even for someone who had spent the entire preceding month reporting on Delhi’s recurring pollution crisis.
What was initially expected to be a post-Diwali pollution spike soon turned into a week-long ordeal. From the very next day, pollution levels continued to hover between 500 and 600 across several parts of the city.
It remained in the severe pollution category, with little to no respite. There were fluctuations in the readings, but the larger picture remained unchanged: Delhi was struggling to breathe.
Even a week after Diwali, the situation is far from reassuring. This morning, I encountered readings of around 607 on the live dashboard of AQI.in. The haze is still here, and so is the question of when the city will finally get some relief.
During my ground reporting, I also spoke to some Indian and foreign tourists. They were aware of Delhi’s notorious air quality, particularly around Diwali.
They had anticipated smog and fog in the aftermath of the celebrations and knew that fireworks would add to the pollution. But what they did not anticipate was the extent of it. They said the haze was far worse than what they had imagined.
And that perhaps captures the situation on the ground. Whether it is residents stepping out for work, people travelling through the city or tourists visiting the capital, the polluted air has become impossible to ignore. But beyond the haze and alarming numbers, another aspect of the pollution crisis has been hard to miss this week: the politics surrounding it.
As the air quality continued to deteriorate, the Delhi government pointed to the increasing number of farm fires in neighbouring Punjab, arguing that due to a common airshed, emissions from agricultural burning contribute to the city’s pollution. The government also flagged 1,152 farm fire incidents recorded in a single day on Diwali.
The Aam Aadmi Party, which is the ruling party in Punjab, pushed back against this argument citing a significant decline in stubble-burning incidents in the northern state. Its defence was that when the party first came to power in the state, annual farm fire cases stood at around 71,000, and that these have since declined by more than 90 per cent.
Amid this political back-and-forth, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) also released an analytical post-Diwali assessment of air pollution in Delhi-NCR, adding another dimension to the debate.
The report highlighted that early-winter pollution, covering the October to mid-November period, has been worse in 2026 as compared to 2025. It said, as part of the key findings, Delhi’s pre-winter pollution in 2026 was generally higher than in 2025 except for a brief late-September drop caused by rain.
In both years, pollution surged in the days leading up to Diwali. The overall toxic burden during this pre-festive week, however, was significantly worse in 2026 than in previous years.
When I put these findings before Delhi environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa, he said the satellite data on stubble burning showed approximately 36,000 farm fire incidents, while the Punjab government was projecting figures of around 4,000 to 5,000 cases. I also asked him about the other measures implemented by the government, such as, the restrictions on the entry of vehicles that do not meet BS-VI emission standards.
Because with such restrictions already in place, why has Delhi continued to witness such alarming pollution levels?
“BS-VI vehicles are, even though, polluting but comparatively less polluting than older emission standards,” Sirsa said, adding, “Delhi is the national capital and home to approximately 3.5 crore people so everything cannot be banned. The fight against pollution can only be won with public cooperation.”
The central government, meanwhile, has also stepped up intervention. On Saturday (November 14), Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav chaired a high-level review meeting to assess the worsening air quality situation and discuss stricter measures.
Stressing on the need for coordinated action across state boundaries, he said “air pollution does not recognise state boundaries” and called for coordinated implementation of pollution control measures across the national capital region.
And so, a week after Diwali, Delhi finds itself in an almost similar position it was in the morning after the festival. The numbers continue to be alarming, the haze refuses to lift, governments continue to announce measures, and the debate over accountability goes on.
For the people living in the capital, however, the political arguments and administrative reviews offer little immediate comfort. What they are waiting for is something far more basic: just some clean air.
As for me, a week into reporting on this crisis, my N99 mask is still very much a part of my daily personal kit. And I can only hope that the next time I step out to report on Delhi’s air, it will finally be about some heartening developments.
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Ask News18Air quality readings reached around 607 in the morning on Sunday, November 15, with several parts of New Delhi continuing to record severe pollution levels between AQI 500 and 600.
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November 15, 2026, 3:44 PM IST
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