Post-Diwali pollution up in cities in spite of Supreme Court orders

Air pollution in Delhi shot up to about 10 times its permissible limit on the night of Diwali, and the morning after, making ther air we breathe extremely toxic

Pollution levels rose sharply from 280 at 7 pm on Diwali evening to units to 999+ units within hours. The real pollution level is actually more than that. For example, in Delhi’s North Campus the PM 2.5 levels hit 2000.It says only 999 because the display of the instrument is not designed to show more than 3 digits.

The permissible levels of PM 2.5 pollutants is 60 is 60 units and for PM 10 it is 100 units.

This year the Supreme Court revoked a complete ban on bursting crackers, and allowed certain crackers to be burst under certain conditions. The implementing agencies were lax in communicating this to the public

And as a result, the restrictions put in place by the Supreme Court were violated rampantly across India.

The Supreme Court had in effect banned all existing crackers as green crackers had not yet entered the market. Yet district administrations in places like Ghaziabad and Noida issued licenses for the sale of firecrackers. And the vendors were selling the banned category of crackers, in open violation of Supreme Court guidelines.