Drone footage evidently shows thick layer of smog over Delhi's Saket
Delhi's struggle to breathe the morning after Diwali continued this year too as smoke from firecrackers joined air pollution due to stubble burning in north India to create a thick layer of smog. Drone footage shot this morning captures the haze covering the roads in the national capital and the significantly reduced visibility.
The drone visuals showed the scale of air pollution in the Saket area of the national capital. The layer of smoke blurred the view as the drone moved across the prominent neighbourhood.
Delhi yesterday witnessed its best Diwali day air quality in eight years, but the Air Quality Index spiked in the evening as crackers rang through the national capital region. This morning, the city woke up to smog and data from the Central Pollution Control Board recorded a spike in pollutants such as PM2.5, known to harm lungs.
A spell of rain on Thursday night had given the national capital some respite from toxic air, but the bursting of fire-crackers has brought it back into the red. The AQI in Delhi this morning was 300, close to the 2022 figure of post-Diwali morning.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has said the severals curbs introduced to contain the slide in air quality will stay for now. Schools have been shut and diesel vehicles have been banned as the government tries to tackle the air emergency.
Earlier, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had appealed to people to avoid bursting crackers in view of the air pollution in the capital.