Despite cracker ban, smog covers Delhi

The capital woke up to a hazy morning on Friday, with the Supreme Court ban on crackers only managing to contain the spread of pollutants. Available data show that the peak levels of pollutants in Delhi on Diwali night were lower than the previous year but still breached the emergency point.

The Supreme Court ban on sale of firecrackers dampened, but did not kill the spirit of Delhiites. While officially crackers were not sold in Delhi following the ban imposed by the apex court on October 9, a thriving black market ensured the steady supply of combustible products. The court order was not against bursting of crackers.

Analyses by organisations such as The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and the Centre of Science and Environment (CSE) show that the pollution in the city, which was already at unhealthy levels before Diwali, escalated to hazardous levels in certain pockets.

However, the peak levels were lower than last year. According to air quality data collated by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), the PM 2.5 level hit a maximum of 422 µg/m3. Last year it had soared to 883 µg/m3.

The maximum average figures, however, remained the same at 440 µg/m3, according to data provided by the Delhi government, even as the minimum pollution levels were slightly low at 154 µg/m3, down from 180 µg/m3 last year Diwali.

“According to our analysis, there has been a slight drop, of about 15-20 per cent, in pollution levels during Diwali this year as compared to last year. However, there has been a data gap as some stations stopped registering levels after midnight. Last year, several stations had stopped recording the pollution levels after a certain limit,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director for Research and Advocacy at CSE.

CSE analysis shows that the 24-hour average level of PM 2.5 during Diwali and the morning after (12 pm-12 am, October 19-20) was 397 µg/m3. “This is 6.6 times the standards and are at emergency level.

This is more than two times the levels during pre-Diwali day when the 24 hour average was 184 µg/m3,” CSE said.

The levels of most pollutants — carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, PM10, and PM2.5 — were, however, lower than those recorded last year, despite being at the ‘hazardous’ point.

A resident of Kalkaji said: “I had a small stock of crackers from the previous year but if you know the shopkeepers you could get this season too. I procured some for my children a few days before Diwali.” One of his neighbours said he had bought some from Muradabad, where his family stays.

Shopkeepers, however, deny this. Kunal Srivastava of Ram Chand Chhunnu Fire Works, a wholesale shop in Chandni Chowk, said he hadn’t been able to sell even a single cracker in the past 12 days. “Most of our sales in the season happen around this period,” Srivastava said.

Sales have been hit in neighbouring cities, too. Wholesaler Chaman Mansoori, proprietor of Mughul Fire Works in Agra’s Shah Ganj, said sales were down by 25 per cent even though crackers were not banned in Uttar Pradesh.