Key points
- The Delhi Pollution Control Committee's data shows PM2.5 peaking at 3,744 micrograms per cubic metre at Mundka at 2 am, more than 60 times the national daily limit.
- 36 of 59 CPCB stations went blank overnight; with the restored readings the 24-hour AQI to 9 am is about 384, not 370.
- Punjab logged 1,152 farm fires on Diwali day, the season's highest, and BJP and AAP are trading charges over it.
Delhi’s pollution authorities on Monday evening published the hourly air readings that were missing from the central database for Diwali night, and they are far worse than anything the official index shows. The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) data puts PM2.5 at 3,744 micrograms per cubic metre at Mundka at 2 am on Monday, more than 60 times the national 24-hour standard of 60.
The data was released at about 8 pm. By then the Aam Aadmi Party had already called the official figures fraudulent, the BJP was accusing AAP of a plot to keep Delhi’s air foul through burning in Punjab, and the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) had put Punjab’s season total at 4,459 farm fires.
What the readings show
JNU recorded 3,023 at 4 am and NSUT West Campus 3,008 at 5 am. Mandir Marg read 2,908 at 3 am, Nehru Nagar 2,808 at 3 am and Wazirpur 2,721 at 1 am. Eleven DPCC locations crossed 2,000, and no station fell below 1,000 in the hours that had gone missing.
The gap sat in the Central Pollution Control Board’s records, where 36 of Delhi’s 59 stations were blank overnight and 125 station-hours were missing. An official said that there were “some technical glitches” in the monitors, but that all 43 DPCC stations were giving data.
The Air Quality Index is capped at 500, a level reached once PM2.5 passes about 420. A reading of 3,744 and one of 500 therefore look the same on the index. Counting the restored hours, the 24-hour AQI to 9 am on Monday rises to about 384, against the 370 published, and the 4 pm bulletin figure from 344 to about 360. These are provisional: at 7:58 pm the new values had not yet been entered in CPCB’s records.
How we got here
Delhi’s average AQI was 382 on Friday, November 6, when CAQM brought in GRAP Stage III, then 369 on Saturday and 376 on Sunday. The Supreme Court had allowed only green crackers in fixed windows on November 7 and 8, and bursting went on well past them, as we reported on Monday morning, when the city read 368 at 7 am with 15 stations severe. At 10 pm on Sunday, 20 of the 59 CPCB stations were severe, 33 very poor and 6 poor, with Sonia Vihar at 463 and Jahangirpuri at 450.
The farm-fire count
CAQM’s figures as of November 8 show 1,152 fires in Punjab on Diwali day, the highest single day of the season after counts had been falling. Up to November 7 the season total was 3,307, down 2.3% from 3,384 a year earlier. With November 8 it stands at 4,459, up 23.1% on 3,622 last year.
Inspectors visited 2,998 sites and confirmed burning at 1,310. Environmental compensation was imposed in 1,228 cases, totalling ₹62.55 lakh, of which ₹32.60 lakh has been recovered. Police registered 884 FIRs under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, red entries went into the land records of 1,017 farms, and prosecution has begun against 18 nodal officers under Section 14 of the CAQM Act. Harvesting is done on 91.40% of Punjab’s 32.87 lakh hectares of paddy. Tarn Taran leads with 654 cases, then Ferozepur 592, Sangrur 488, Bathinda 406 and Patiala 288.
Stubble burning contributed 3.5% of Delhi’s PM2.5 on Sunday and is forecast at about 2.99% on Monday, against 19% from transport.
The political row
Delhi minister Kapil Mishra said satellite data showed fires rising from 100 to 125 a day over three days to about 1,200 on Diwali evening. He called it a “conspiracy against farmers, against Diwali, against Delhi, against Punjab,” said he was not blaming farmers, and asked Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to order a probe and register FIRs. BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal went further: “Punjab decided to burn stubble vigorously so that Delhi remains polluted on Diwali and they can blame us for it.”
AAP’s Baltej Pannu rejected the charge and said BJP leaders were blaming Punjab before the paddy harvest had even begun. Delhi AAP president Saurabh Bharadwaj turned on the data itself: “The government’s data is based on fraud.” He alleged that monitoring stations were shut overnight, that 20 new stations were put in green areas and that water is sprayed around monitors in polluted spots. The authorities have not said the stations were shut deliberately; the official quoted blamed technical faults.
Why it matters
The index residents check to decide whether to send children to school or go out for a walk stops at 500. The hourly figures show that for some hours on Diwali night the air was several times beyond that ceiling, and the stations that go blank are the ones nobody can check. Delhi has hybrid classes up to Class 5 under Stage III, and parents have asked for wider closures.
What happens next
The early warning system expects severe air for several more days. CPCB is expected to enter the DPCC hourly values into its records, which would lift the published 24-hour average. GRAP Stage III stays until CAQM reviews it, and a move above 450 would bring the next stage of curbs.
The documents
- Air Quality Index bulletin, Central Pollution Control BoardCPCB, November 9, 2026