Delhi’s air quality plummeted into the ‘severe’ category on Tuesday morning, just two days after Diwali celebrations involving the bursting of crackers contributed to elevated pollution levels amid low temperatures. Despite initial relief from rain, the city witnessed a resurgence of a smoky haze on Monday, undoing the progress made. The political blame game between the AAP and the BJP intensified as both parties accused each other of the deteriorating air quality. On Diwali day, Delhi initially recorded its best air quality in eight years with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 218, but this improvement proved short-lived as the AQI spiked to 358 (very poor) on Monday. According to IQAir, a Swiss air quality monitoring company, Delhi claimed the unenviable title of the world’s most polluted city on Monday, with Lahore and Karachi in Pakistan following closely behind. Mumbai and Kolkata also featured among the top polluted cities globally, ranking fifth and sixth, respectively.
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