Delhi Diwali Smog, 8 to 10 November 2026: CPCB’s 24-Hour AQI Was 376 on Diwali Day and Very Poor for Three Days, GRAP Stage III in Force, Some Neighbourhood Stations Above 400, Missing Readings Disputed, Health Impact Not Yet Reported

What happened

On Diwali, Sunday 8 November 2026, Delhi’s air was already in the Very Poor band, and it stayed there for three days. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) publishes a daily bulletin with each city’s AQI as the average of the past 24 hours at 4 pm. For Delhi it gave 369 on Saturday 7 November, 376 on Diwali day, 344 on Monday 9 November and 299 on Tuesday 10 November. The first three are Very Poor (301 to 400) and the last is Poor (201 to 300). No Delhi daily average reached the Severe band (401 to 500).

City-wide averages hide the worst spots. Press reports of CPCB’s real-time station data put 20 of Delhi’s 59 stations above 400 at 10 pm on Diwali night, with Sonia Vihar at 463 and Jahangirpuri at 450 (PTI, as reported by Outlook and Down To Earth). A Hindustan Times snapshot at 7 am on 9 November, reported by Outlook, counted 15 stations in the Severe band, with Sonia Vihar at 449. The counts differ because the hours differ. Many stations also had no PM2.5 reading for hours on Diwali night, so the published figures may understate what the air was like (see below).

What the official figures show

• Delhi, CPCB bulletin: 7 November 369 (Very Poor, all 59 stations reporting), 8 November 376 (Very Poor, 59 of 59), 9 November 344 (Very Poor, 47 of 59), 10 November 299 (Poor, 58 of 59). PM2.5 was named as a prominent pollutant on all four days, with PM10 also named on 7 and 10 November. We read the four bulletins on 10 November 2026.
• Towns around Delhi, 9 November: Faridabad 350, Gurugram 345, Noida 332 and Ghaziabad 324, all Very Poor; Meerut 269, Poor. Rohtak was 378 and Bahadurgarh 400, both Very Poor. On 10 November Gurugram (323) and Noida (301) were still Very Poor while Ghaziabad (244), Faridabad (290) and Meerut (262) were Poor.
• Other large cities, 9 November: Mumbai 172, Kolkata 153, Chennai 199, Bengaluru 133 and Hyderabad 119 were Moderate (101 to 200). Pune 292, Ahmedabad 223 and Surat 204 were Poor. Delhi and its neighbours were the worst of the large cities.
• Severe in the bulletin: In the four bulletins only one city average was Severe: Ballabgarh, Haryana, at 409 on 7 November. The highest city value on 8 November was Ballabgarh at 398, on 9 November Bahadurgarh at 400 and on 10 November Panchgaon at 380 (all Very Poor).
• GRAP: The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) lists Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan as effective from 6 November 2026, with no revocation date shown when we read its site on 10 November. Newspapers say it was invoked ahead of Diwali on forecasts of worsening air. CAQM’s Stage III list includes shutting dust-generating construction and demolition work, stone crushers and mining, curbs on older diesel goods vehicles and on BS III petrol and BS IV diesel cars, and hybrid classes for children.

The response and the cracker rules

The firecracker rules were set before Diwali. Delhi’s year-round ban on making, storing, selling and using firecrackers dates from a Supreme Court order of 3 April 2025 (Business Standard). On 2 November 2026, a bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Prasanna B Varale allowed approved green crackers in Delhi-NCR for a short period, as reported by LiveLaw: bursting from 6 am to 8 pm on 7 November and from 7 am to 10 pm on 8 November, with the complete ban restored from 9 November. Only crackers approved by CSIR-NEERI could be sold, in sealed boxes with QR codes, at designated places, and strings of crackers (ladis) and crackers containing barium stayed banned. We have read LiveLaw’s report, not the order text. Outlook gives the bursting hours differently, so check the order itself.

The same report says the court told CPCB and the state pollution boards to report air quality every day from 2 to 30 November, and told the authorities to file an affidavit on how many more patients hospitals and health centres in Delhi-NCR admitted after the festival. That affidavit is the official source for the health impact, and it has not been published yet.

Crackers were burst despite the limits. PTI, quoted by Outlook, reported crackers in Pitampura, Burari, Mayur Vihar and Lutyens’ Delhi, and residents reporting poor visibility and difficulty breathing. We found no official figure for challans, seizures or arrests, and no DPCC or Delhi government statement on enforcement for Diwali 2026.

Where reports differ and what we do not know

• The AQI figure: There are several correct numbers. CPCB’s bulletin gives 376 for 8 November and 344 for 9 November (4 pm, 24-hour average). Real-time snapshots were 370 at 9 pm and 373 at 11 pm on 8 November, and 367 at 3 am on 9 November (Down To Earth, from CPCB real-time data). CPCB’s 24-hour figure to 9 am on 9 November was 370. They measure different hours and should not be set side by side as if they were one reading.
• Missing readings: Business Today reports that 125 station-hours of PM2.5 were missing from CPCB’s records on Diwali night, that DPCC released them on the evening of 9 November, that the highest was 3,744 micrograms per cubic metre at Mundka at 2 am, and that, counting them, CPCB’s own method gives about 384 for the 24 hours to 9 am against the published 370, and about 360 for the 4 pm bulletin against the published 344 (a Hindustan Times estimate). The 9 November bulletin itself counts only 47 of 59 Delhi stations. We have not recalculated the AQI ourselves and have not opened DPCC’s own release.
• Stations above 400: 20 of 59 at 10 pm on 8 November (PTI), 15 in a 7 am snapshot on 9 November (Hindustan Times, via Outlook) and 14 of 51 reporting stations at 10 am (PTI, in our blog on bad AQI). These are different hours, and they are not the city average.
• Cracker hours: LiveLaw gives 6 am to 8 pm on 7 November and 7 am to 10 pm on 8 November. Outlook gives two shorter windows each day. We follow LiveLaw, which reports the order itself, and say we have not read the order.
• Private platforms: Some private AQI platforms showed far higher numbers for Delhi. These are not the CPCB index and use other methods, so we do not use them.
• Not known: How many people needed medical care because of the air, the DPCC’s full hourly record, the number of cracker violations and penalties, why the air improved to Poor by 10 November, and when CAQM will lift Stage III.

What this case teaches

Diwali smog is a season, not a surprise, and Delhi had done what the rules allow before it: Stage III was in force from 6 November, the court allowed only certified green crackers for two days, and the ban returned on 9 November. The air was still Very Poor for three days, with neighbourhood stations well above 400. That tells readers to plan for the pollution, not rely on the restrictions to remove it.

Use the number for your own station and the band it falls in. Our guide to bad AQI days and N95 masks sets out what each CPCB band means and what the health ministry’s NCDC advises: on a Very Poor day, avoid outdoor activity, use a close-fitted N95 or N99 mask if you must go out, and burn nothing indoors; on a Poor day, avoid outdoor exertion if you can. If breathing becomes difficult, see what to do in an asthma or allergy attack in smog, and call 112 or 108 if someone is struggling to breathe.

For the festival itself, see our guides to Diwali safety, burns and first aid, firecracker eye injury and burns and Diwali fire accidents in India, and the Delhi cases from the same week: a boy killed by a flower-pot cracker in Narela, the Uttam Nagar parking-area fire and the Najafgarh garment factory fire. Delhi’s emergency numbers and nearest help are in our Delhi safety guide.