Delhi’s AQI Hits 382, Its Worst Since January, Triggering GRAP Stage 3 Curbs Two Days Before Diwali

Delhi’s official air quality index reached 382 on Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, the city’s worst reading since Jan. 19, prompting the Commission for Air Quality Management to impose Stage 3 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) across Delhi and the National Capital Region less than two days before Diwali. The Delhi AQI reading sits at the top of the “very poor” band, and a Hindustan Times analysis published Nov. 7 says the official number may understate how bad the air is.

Forecasters expect worse. The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune projected that air quality would deteriorate to “severe” between Nov. 7 and 9 and swing between “severe” and “very poor” for the following six days, The New Indian Express reported.

What GRAP Stage 3 means

Stage 3 halts non-essential construction and demolition across the region, with exemptions for some essential infrastructure and public-interest projects. It bars BS-III petrol and BS-IV diesel four-wheelers in Delhi and high-traffic NCR districts including Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Noida, restricts diesel generator sets to emergency and essential uses, and shuts stone crushers, mining and hot-mix plants that do not run on clean fuels. Private companies were advised to allow work from home or hybrid schedules, and schools up to Class 5 were directed to move classes online, according to The Tribune.

India’s Supreme Court weighed in the same day. “We keep talking, sometimes make statements and suggestions, but the point is that AQI is already touching 400,” Chief Justice Surya Kant said while hearing a suo motu case on air pollution, according to The New Indian Express. The court flagged vehicle emissions and “bumper-to-bumper” traffic between Delhi and its suburbs as major contributors.

By the numbers: 16 days from Stage 1 to Stage 3

Stage 1 was imposed on Oct. 21, when the AQI stood at 244. The index touched 344 on Oct. 29, fell to 117 on Oct. 31, then climbed to 261 on Nov. 1 and 324 on Nov. 2, when Stage 2 was invoked. It reached 369 in Thursday’s 4 p.m. bulletin and 382 on Friday. From Oct. 31 to Nov. 6, the index more than tripled, a rise of 265 points or about 226%, by The Boston Report’s calculation from the reported readings.

The city average hides worse local readings. At least 26 monitoring stations exceeded 400, the “severe” band, on Friday, including Punjabi Bagh at 448, Jahangirpuri at 442, Rohini at 439 and Chandni Chowk at 406. IIT Delhi and Rohini were the worst at 7 a.m. at 474 each, according to the HT Pollution Dashboard.

Are new monitors softening the official number?

Hindustan Times found that 13 stations added to the network in October, mostly on the city’s periphery and set up by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, report PM2.5 levels about 35% lower than older stations nearby. Because the official AQI is a plain average of every station, those monitors pull it down. Without them, Friday’s 4 p.m. bulletin would have read 393 instead of 382, and the morning readings would have been 401 to 403, in the “severe” band, by HT’s calculation. The median station read 410 at 7 a.m. Delhi had 39 stations at Diwali last year and 59 now.

The share of stations in the severe band tells the same story. At 7 a.m. on Friday, 28 of Delhi’s 59 stations, or 47%, were severe, peaking at 31 stations, or 53%, at 11 a.m. and noon. Excluding the 13 new monitors, 59% of the remaining 46 stations were severe at 7 a.m., rising to 65% at noon, HT found. By 9 p.m., 26 of 59 stations were still severe.

The weather also turned against the city. HT reported that winds from the farm-fire belt of Punjab and Haryana carried smoke in a few hundred meters above ground late Thursday, while near-still surface winds and a warm air layer trapped local emissions. Festival traffic for Dhanteras jammed Ring Road, Outer Ring Road and central markets.

What comes next

Diwali falls on Sunday, Nov. 8. So-called green firecrackers are allowed this year, and HT reported that illegal sales of banned crackers have continued. If the AQI moves above 450, the next step is Stage 4, the plan’s strictest tier. For more on India and the region, see our Asia-Pacific news and the latest world news, including the World Bank’s recent estimate of India’s extreme poverty rate.

Sources

• Hindustan Times: New stations on periphery may be clouding AQI data in Delhi, HT analysis shows (Nov. 7, 2026)
• The New Indian Express: GRAP-3 curbs imposed across Delhi-NCR as air quality set to slip into severe category (Nov. 6, 2026)
• The Tribune: Delhi-NCR AQI hits 382, slips into 'very poor' category; GRAP Stage III invoked (Nov. 7, 2026)
• The Hindu: Air quality of Delhi worsens, many parts reel under 'severe' level air pollution (Nov. 6, 2026)