This was on a day that the average AQI of Delhi as a whole hit 494 — the city’s second highest AQI since 2015, when records began

Environmental advocates and public health experts criticised the apparent delay in implementing Stage-3 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), arguing that the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) appears to have lost sight of its primary mission—to act pre-emptively before air emergencies arise, not after.

A senior environment department official said the fresh mapping exercise factored in previously identified sources, following checks on whether they were fixed

Despite recording an excess monsoon, receiving over 1,000mm of rainfall between June and September, the best AQI this year was 53 (“satisfactory”) on August 8

While the 24-hour AQI climbed steadily through Thursday night, the city experienced an unexpected respite

Thousands ignored the ban on firecrackers, filling the night air with a dense haze of toxic smoke that pushed pollution to hazardous levels

The project is run by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, and functions under the Union ministry of earth sciences.