A thick blanket of toxic smog shrouded India’s capital early on Monday after firecrackers lit up the skies over Delhi during Diwali celebrations, compounding dangerously high pollution levels and intensifying the seasonal air pollution crisis.
Despite restrictions on fireworks, residents in Delhi celebrated the Hindu festival of lights with fireworks on Sunday evening, releasing smoke and fine particulate matter into the atmosphere.
While India’s Central Pollution Control Board showed the air quality index exceeding 400 in several parts of the city, other private monitoring sites showed pollution crossing “hazardous” levels of 2,000 in parts of Delhi on Sunday.
Monitoring stations across the city recorded similarly alarming levels, while visibility deteriorated as a gray haze blanketed streets and high-rise buildings.
The Indian capital recorded the most polluted Diwali in five years since 2021, according to local reports.
Private air quality tracking firm AQI India on Sunday night said 99 out of 100 "most polluted cities in the world" were in India. The Swiss monitor IQAir ranked Delhi the most polluted major city in the world on the eve of the festival on Saturday.
Throughout the evening, the smell of smoke lingered in the air as the city remained engulfed in a thick layer of smog, reducing visibility on the streets. The loud sound of firecrackers went on much later after midnight.
On Monday morning, Delhi recorded an air quality index of 370, categorised as 'very poor' by the Central Pollution Control Board, which considers an AQI of up to 50 to be “good”. The pollution control board also caps the national index at 500, classified as “severe”.
However, the levels of cancer-causing PM 2.5 micro-particles on Monday hit 879 micrograms per cubic metre in the Mandir Marg locality, according to IQAir. That is almost 59 times the WHO’s recommended daily limit.
The PM10 concentration was recorded at 126 micrograms per cubic metre, while carbon monoxide concentration was at 1,461.5 micrograms per cubic metre.
Delhi's pollution control committee's website on Sunday evening allegedly stopped providing real-time data for several key sectors in the city, including included RK Puram, Nehru Nagar, Mundka, Sonia Vihar and Dwarka.
Former Delhi health minister Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed that the government's official air quality figures were misleading the residents.
He claimed AQI readings were higher in multiple parts of the city than compared to the reported government figures.
"Govt is doing AQI data fraud," he wrote on X.
"When pollution data is shown as less than the actual data, it can lead to very serious situations - heart attack, asthma attacks, respiratory failure and even worse," he added.
India’s Supreme Court in October had sought to limit Diwali pollution by restricting conventional firecrackers and allowing only approved “green firecrackers” under specified conditions for three-hour windows on Saturday and Sunday. The crackers produce fewer emissions but are not pollution-free. They still release particulate matter and other pollutants, adding to the city’s already hazardous air.
Air pollution levels in the city rose sharply on Sunday even before the evening window for fireworks opened at 8pm local time.
“I had to go to sleep last night wearing an N95 mask, indoors, in my own home. My chest felt like it was on fire; I was coughing for hours straight,” wrote one user on X.
Kiran Bedi, former Puducherry governor, rued: “Breathing smoke. Along with blasting noise. We wait all year for this day? This is not Deepawali festival of lights, prayers, sweets, gifts. It is noise and smoke.”
Delhi and its metropolitan region, home to more than 30 million people, regularly rank among the world’s most polluted areas during winter. Pollution worsens as Diwali fireworks coincide with cooler weather and smoke from crop-residue fires in neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana.
99 out of 100 most polluted cities in the World are in India right now.
— AQI (@AQI_India) November 8, 2026
Keep yourself informed on your local air quality with https://t.co/P4yNoxBBw7. Stay safe, stay aware, and take necessary precautions.
Tell us in the comments what the air quality in your area is right now.… pic.twitter.com/iGbp55kQtj
After harvesting rice, farmers often burn leftover stalks to clear their fields for the next planting season. The smoke drifts toward Delhi, adding to pollution from vehicles, industries, construction dust and other local sources.
The problem becomes particularly acute in late October and November, when cooler temperatures, low wind speeds and stagnant atmospheric conditions prevent pollutants from dispersing. The result is a thick haze that can linger over the capital and surrounding areas for days.
"Babies could get asthma, old people could die and the ‘triple-engine’ BJP government spreads conspiracy theories about arsonists in Punjab, wrote columnist Tavleen Singh, describing Delhi's air as ' unbreathable '.”
Authorities in New Delhi have implemented a set of measures to curb pollution, which include limits on construction activity and restrictions on diesel generators, while courts have sought restrictions on firecrackers. But the measures have not prevented the return of severe pollution each year.
“Literally a gas chamber,” wrote one user, sharing a video of poor visibility in Delhi.
Visibility in Delhi! It is literally a gas chamber pic.twitter.com/FZvXqPCaDx
— Anuradha Shukla (@anu1122) November 8, 2026
The government has ordered schools in and around Delhi to hold online classes and encouraged people to work from home.
Environmentalists say long-term solutions, such as cleaner energy and stricter controls on vehicle emissions, are needed to prevent the annual crisis.
A 2024 study published in The Lancet Planetary Health had estimated that 3.8 million deaths in Indian between 2009 and 2019 were linked to air pollution.
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