Delhi residents complaint of itchy throat, watery eyes as pollution goes off-chart

New Delhi : From 'severe' last night, the air quality has slipped into the 'hazardous' category this morning, following Diwali celebrations.

Continuing its upward trend, the city's air quality index, which stood at 382 at 4 pm yesterday, entered the severe zone around 8 pm as low temperature and wind speed allowed the accumulation of pollutants.

The concentrations of Pollution Meter (PM) 2.5 stood at 999 at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in the city on Friday morning. The number 999 is the upper limit of Delhi's pollution meters and the reading could mean the actual value may be higher.

The neighbouring cities of Faridabad (424), Ghaziabad (442), Gurgaon (423) and Noida (431) also recorded 'severe' air quality with cracker bursting peaking after 9 pm.

It must be noted that the Delhi government had banned sale and bursting of firecrackers; despite that a large number of people were seen bursting crackers on the Diwali night. Though it is not the main reason behind poor air quality, it has contributed enough to make things worse.

People from several parts of the city and its suburbs complained of itchy throat and watery eyes, as a layer of smog, the first episode this season, lingered over the region.

The Haryana government has also imposed a ban on the sale or use of all kinds of firecrackers in 14 of its districts in the National Capital Region, while curbs were put in other parts.