Diwali pollution: Only 9 out of 37 monitoring stations working
On Diwali night, while pollution in Delhi was peaking, only nine out of 37 air quality monitoring stations were actually working. The rest were down, so a lot of crucial data just went missing.
This left experts, like amicus curiae Aparjita Singh, really questioning how the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) can do its job without reliable numbers.
Meanwhile, how bad was the pollution?
Air quality got seriously bad: PM2.5 levels soared to 488 micrograms per cubic meter—almost 100 times what the World Health Organization considers safe.
That's a huge jump (212%) from pre-Diwali readings.
Even though farm fires dropped sharply this year, AQI still shot above 350 in many places and three stations reported 'severe' pollution.
Why is this a big deal?
Because with so much missing data during those critical hours, authorities couldn't react quickly under their emergency plan.
Now the Supreme Court wants CAQM and the Central Pollution Control Board to explain what went wrong—highlighting just how urgent it is to fix Delhi's pollution tracking if we want better air and public health protections.