New Delhi: Two days after Diwali celebrations, Air quality continued to be in ‘severe’ category in the National Capital Region. A thick layer of acrid smog has engulfed the Delhi-NCR region on Saturday following the rampant bursting of firecrackers on Diwali night amid a rapid increase in fumes from stubble burning. Reports claimed that it is the worst-post Diwali air quality in five years.

According to the Ministry of Earth Sciences’ air quality forecast agency SAFAR, Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) continued its upward trend and stood at 533 at 6 AM today. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.

Speaking to reporters, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai had said that Delhi’s air quality had deteriorated due to a surge in farm fires and some people bursting firecrackers on purpose on Diwali despite a ban on it. He alleged that the BJP made people burst firecrackers on Diwali on Thursday.

Rai said Delhi’s base pollution has remained the same. Only two factors have been added firecrackers and stubble burning. “A large number of people did not burst firecrackers. I thank them all. But some people burst firecrackers on purpose. The BJP made them do it,” he told media persons.

As per air quality forecast agency SAFAR, stubble burning accounted for 36 per cent of Delhi’s PM2.5 on Friday, the highest so far this season. “The overall air quality of Delhi plunged to the upper end of the severe category with additional firework emissions… The share of stubble emissions has peaked today at 36 per cent,” said Gufran Beig, the founder project director of SAFAR.