The toxic blanket of smog that smothers the National Capital Region (NCR) and adjoining areas from October to January is as normalised in these parts as the onset of winter. Air quality dips sharply as winter temperature and low wind speed worsen the cumulative effect of vehicular pollution, stubble burning, industrial and construction activity and firecracker use.
This year is no exception with the Air Quality Index (AQI) worsening from 'very poor' to severe' category, levels that would trigger health emergencies elsewhere in the world. The WHO has repeatedly warned of acute respiratory and cardiovascular risks from such exposure. Despite this, the response from the local administration has ranged from apathetic to actively misleading. The Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP III), designed precisely for these conditions, has been reduced to a token checklist with no enforcement worth mentioning. Schools remain open, construction rumbles on, and heavy-duty commercial vehicles continue to pour into the capital. What is troubling is that the local administration is busy obfuscating data and obliterating signs pointing to the extremity of the air pollution crisis. Around Diwali, when firecrackers triggered severe pollution, the AQI remained at 351, admittedly still 'very poor', but only six points down from from the previous day reading of 345 and conveniently short of 'severe'.
The reason? Only eight of the total 39 stations to monitor ambient air quality were functioning in the 24 hours during Diwali when pollution levels peak in Delhi. If all the centres had logged in uninterrupted hourly data as they are supposed to, the AQI levels would have been much worse i.e., in the 'severe' and not 'very poor' category. Citizens' uproar over the studied indifference has had little impact. Instead of fixing monitoring gaps, the local government has since taken to spraying water around the pollution monitoring centres supposedly to bring the AQI readings down. None of this changes the reality on the ground. The AQI levels in Delhi have remained dangerously high in the last ten days, reaching 428 on November 11 and 404 on November 13 and touching 391 on November 20. The readings are similar in the entire NCR region and adjoining districts. As the head of pulmonary medicine and sleep disorders at AIIMS has said, Delhi's extremely poor air quality is nothing short of an emergency.
Long-term strategies that include electrifying public transport, reducing crop-burning and enforcing industrial standards are essential. But immediate actions are unavoidable: shut schools, halt construction, restrict commercial vehicle entry, and above all implement vehicle-rationing measures like odd-even without delay. These measures are disruptive, no doubt, but not nearly as dangerous as the health-care costs (for the working poor in particular who have no choice but to be outdoors), and productivity losses caused by a capital city choking on its own air.
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Published on November 21, 2025
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