Of the 59 monitoring stations, 58 reported valid data. Of these, 57 recorded AQI levels above 300, while 33 fell into the ‘severe’ category, with readings above 400.
Under the CPCB’s National Air Quality Index classification, readings between 0 and 50 are categorised as ‘good’, 51 and 100 as ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 as ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 as ‘poor’, 301 and 400 as ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 as ‘severe’.
IIT Delhi recorded the highest AQI at 488, followed by Chandni Chowk at 480, North Campus of Delhi University at 479, Pusa (IITM) at 469, NSUT Jaffarpur and Punjabi Bagh at 458 each, and CRRI Mathura Road at 457. Commonwealth Sports Complex and JNU recorded AQI readings of 451 each, while ITO stood at 448.
Meanwhile, air quality also deteriorated across the National Capital Region (NCR). Noida recorded an AQI of 365, followed by Greater Noida at 356, Gurugram at 354 and Faridabad at 308.
The deterioration comes days after Diwali, with experts attributing the prolonged pollution episode to an already high baseline pollution level, compounded by firecracker emissions, farm fires and unfavourable meteorological conditions.
The findings suggest that the capital entered the festival period with a significantly higher pollution burden than in previous years. An analysis by research organisation Climate Trends also found that Delhi’s average AQI during the Diwali window had worsened over the past three years, rising from 334 in 2024 to 348 in 2025 and 360 in 2026.
The contribution of pollution from outside Delhi also remained significant. Data showed that around 62 per cent of the capital’s pollution on Thursday came from non-local sources. The transport sector was the largest local contributor, accounting for 17 per cent on Tuesday, according to the Decision Support System (DSS) for Delhi.
