Delhi-NCR AQI Level Today October 21, 2025: Day after Diwali, Delhi chokes as AQI shoots up; toxic smog hangs over NCR

As the national capital celebrated the festival of lights with ‘green’ firecrackers after the Supreme Court lifted the ban, Delhi saw a dip in the air quality to ‘very poor’ category on Sunday.

At 10 pm Monday, 36 out of 38 monitoring stations recorded pollution levels in the ‘red zone’, which indicated ‘very poor’ to ‘severe’ air quality across Delhi.

#WATCH | Visuals from Akshardham temple as GRAP-2 invoked in Delhi.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) around Akshardham was recorded at 358, in the ‘Very Poor’ category, in Delhi this morning as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). pic.twitter.com/6JxECL9uPe

— ANI (@ANI) October 21, 2025

According to the Early Warning System for Delhi, multiple areas in Delhi recorded AQI above 400.

Top polluted areas in Delhi with AQI above 300:

NCR AQI today

The AQI outside Delhi was no better. According to private air quality tracker aqi.in, the Noida AQI at 7 am was a whopping 412. In Greater Noida, the AQI reading was 390, while in Ghaziabad it was 412.

Faridabad recorded an AQI of 412, the Gurgaon AQI read 402. In Meerut, the AQI was 302 at 7:30 am.

The WHO Air quality guidelines recommend levels and interim targets for common air pollutants. An annual average of 5 μg/m3 and a 24-hour average of 15 μg/m3 is the set guideline for PM 2.5. The 24-hour limit of 15μg/m3 should not be exceeded more than 3-4 days per year.

For PM10, efforts should be made to limit the pollutant to a maximum of 45μg/m3 over 24 hours average and the annual average for the same is 15μg/m3.