New Delhi/Lucknow: After the rampant cracker bursting on Diwali despite restrictions in place, air quality deteriorated in many parts of north and central India, including the national capital.
Delhi's air quality index (AQI) entered the 'severe' category on Diwali night and continued its upward trend to reach 462 at noon on Friday.
An AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), several cities and districts in the country recorded severe AQI –Agra, Baghpat, Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh; Ballbhgarh, Bhiwani, Hisar, Jind, Panipat, Rohtak in Haryana and Bhiwadi in Rajasthan.
Among the districts where the AQI was 'very poor' were –Ambala in Haryana; Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota in Rajasthan, Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, Gorakhpur in UP, Jalandhar in Punjab.
The AQI was in the poor category in Kolkata and Howrah in West Bengal; Patiala in Punjab and Patna in Punjab along with other districts in various states.
Concerned citizens and environment activists shared pictures and videos of fireworks on social media and called the ban on crackers a joke.
I will shock you by saying that the only thing good about this morning is this event because the weather outside is not good at all, Supreme Court judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat quipped at a book launch while referring to the spike in air pollution level in the national capital.
The Haryana government had imposed a ban on the sale or use of all kinds of firecrackers in 14 of its districts in the National Capital Region.
The Uttar Pradesh government had allowed the use of green crackers on Diwali only for two hours in areas with moderate or better air quality.
Mumbai too recorded a quieter Laxmi Pujan during this year's Diwali as compared to last year although the overall use of firecrackers was more.
According to the CPCB, the AQI was moderate in the Maharastra capital, though it was poor in Navi Mumbai and Nashik.
"The noise levels in Mumbai were much lower this Laxmi Pujan, which was celebrated on Thursday, as compared to the previous years with the highest reading of 100.4 dB recorded at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai's Dadar area," Sumaira Abdulali, founder of Awaaz Foundation which has been campaigning for bringing down noise levels, said.
In South Mumbai, the Marine Drive promenade, where people generally throng to burn firecrackers on a large scale during Diwali, was completely silent even before the 10 PM deadline due to the heavy presence of police personnel, she said.
Ahead of Diwali, social media was abuzz with messages that opposed firecrackers or decried any restriction on cracker burning as interference in Hindu festivals.