Overview
- Heavy rain on Friday washed pollutants from Delhi’s atmosphere and produced the city’s cleanest October day in years with a CPCB AQI of 60.
- Air quality rebounded over the weekend from 'satisfactory' into 'moderate' and 'poor' readings with some monitors reporting values above 200 and local apps showing spikes near 222.
- The Commission for Air Quality Management has ordered precautionary controls for Delhi-NCR including 50% office attendance and a pause on outdoor construction from November 5 to 20 to limit expected winter deterioration.
- Official modelling from the Decision Support System attributes pollution to multiple sources with transport around 16.3% and stubble burning about 19.1%, showing the rain-only improvement was temporary.
- Residents faced seasonally low temperatures and shallow fog that cut visibility and officials say little near-term rain in forecasts increases the risk that pollution will build again and trigger stricter GRAP measures.