00:00All right, let's quickly once again shift the focus on what it is for all of us who are living
00:07in the Delhi NCR region.
00:08If this isn't a capital punishment, which is slow death, then what is?
00:12Once again, focusing on the pollution, especially now post-Diwali.
00:17The crisis is raising serious questions, not just about the city's toxic air, but about data tracking it.
00:24Delhi recorded its worst Diwali air quality in five years, but as pollution spiked, dozens of monitoring stations stopped reporting
00:32readings.
00:33An India Today reality check also found firecracker restrictions being openly flouted.
00:39Look at this report.
00:45Delhi NCR is still reeling from the Diwali pollution assault.
00:51The air remains toxic, the skies remain hazy, and the battle to clean up the capital is now being fought
00:59with anti-smog guns.
01:02But the real question is, just how bad did the air get on Diwali night?
01:09This Diwali was Delhi's most polluted in five years.
01:15The capital recorded an average AQI of 376 on Diwali, the worst since 2021.
01:23And even as a city choked, a disturbing pattern emerged in its pollution monitoring network.
01:30As pollution levels climbed, the number of monitoring stations not reporting readings kept rising.
01:39Seven stations went missing from the data at 10 p.m., 23 by 11 p.m., 29 at midnight.
01:48And by 1 a.m., 36 out of Delhi's 59 monitoring stations were not reporting readings.
01:55An analysis by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air found 227 missing hourly observations
02:02across 59 stations between midnight and 5 a.m.
02:09At the very time, Delhi needed accurate pollution readings the most.
02:14Crucial data was missing.
02:15And that's not all.
02:17An India Today reality check found firecracker restrictions being openly flouted.
02:22The Supreme Court had allowed only green crackers between 8 and 10 p.m.
02:29But bursting continued well beyond the deadline.
02:36So, you can see that it is way past 11.
02:40This is what?
02:4211.32.
02:44People are still bursting crackers.
02:49Norms are always flouted.
02:51And we never see something which is under control or anything which people can actually moderate.
03:00Monitoring stations going silent.
03:03Court orders flouted.
03:05And now, a political blame game.
03:08The opposition has accused the BJP government of tampering with AQI data.
03:13The BJP, meanwhile, has pointed to stubble burning and pollution sources beyond Delhi.
03:18Yeah, under control.
03:24I have seen the virus on Delhi.
03:35I have stumbled upon the past few months of saying that it is şöyle that it is緩 of 12 and
03:3710 p.m.
03:37And then it has been 30 Hari.
03:40So, when you look through the day of 6000, there is a situation that you can't be council members on
03:43the Rück vino.
03:43And the prime minister is.
03:44It has been through the sense of the shutdown and to slip in the weather.
03:46After that, you will see all the lockdowns and the lockdowns.
03:46So, there has come to be a lockdown.
03:47The lockdowns that when you fall, there will be an lockdown of the lockdowns in a lockdowns,
04:06But as Neta's trade charges, Delhi continues to choke.
04:10Every breath is a health risk.
04:13Every day, a battle against toxic air.
04:16The politicians pass the buck.
04:18But it is citizens who breathe the consequences and pay the price.
04:24Vishtya Chatterjee, Bureau Report, India Today.
