Unsatisfactory progress

Air quality in the capital remains unhealthy

The Delhi government’s contention that air pollution during this Diwali was the lowest in the past five years, though backed by credible data, provides only cold comfort. An analysis of the Air Quality Index (AQI) numbers for recent years indeed shows that the air’s content of PM 2.5 (the most harmful tiny pollutants) averaged around 289 on the Diwali day this year, against 958 in 2016, 497 in 2017, and 482 in 2018. Besides, the AQI bulletin of the Central Pollution Control Board also did not list Delhi among the country’s top 10 most polluted cities. In fact, the metropolis