Beyond The AQI Number: PM2.5 Hits Deadly Levels On Diwali Night

At midnight on Sunday, people in Anand Vihar were exposed to 1,985 micrograms per cubic metre of air (ug/m3) of PM2.5 particles. In the predominantly residential Patparganj, the concentration of the ultrafine particles was 1,856µg/m³ an hour later. Further away, in Jahangirpuri, this number was 1,792µg/ m³.

- Jasjeev Gandhiok

These numbers are between 30 and 33 times what is considered the safe amount of PM2.5 to be exposed to.

Data analysed by HT showed that this year, Diwali celebrations left the Capital's air dirtier by 4.7 times, a damage much worse than in last five Diwalis. In 2019, the post-Diwali air was 2.2 times more polluted than before celebrations. It was 1.4 times as bad in 2020, 2.6 times in 2021 and 1.6 times in 2022.

Prolonged exposure to such high levels of PM2.5 can cause immediate and long-term effects within minutes. Health experts warned that among healthy individuals, it can impact the brain, and circulatory system, causing headaches and asthma attacks instantly, and increase the risk of cancer by several times.

PM2.5 levels 33 times safe limit as localities create their own toxins

NEW DELHI: A large fraction of Delhi residents showed complete disregard for their own health, the well-being of their family members, and that of other people as the sound of firecrackers reverberated in the air on Diwali night. And though all of the city was converted into a gas chamber by the early hours on Monday, some places bore the brunt more than others.

Take, for instance, Anand Vihar in east Delhi.

A known pollution hot spot in Delhi, this area was the Capital's most polluted location on Sunday night. But the usual suspects -vehicular emission, industrial affluents and road dust-were not at fault this time. A combination of relentless bursting of firecrackers in the vicinity, coupled with police inaction in enforcing a ban on the sale and use of fireworks, pushed the hourly PM 2.5 concentration at Anand Vihar to 1,985 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3) at midnight -- a whopping 33 times the national safe standard of 60 µg/m3, and 132 times the safe-limit of 15 µg/m3 given by the World Health Organisation (WHO).