NEW DELHI: The capital has recorded its most polluted October first-week in three years, with the average Air Quality Index (AQI) settling at 171 this year, as the city’s air quality dipped after withdrawal of monsoon.
The average AQI of 171 during the first seven days of October is the highest since 2023, when the figure was 176, according to an analysis of official data by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
This October, AQI stood at 166 on the 1st, 174 on 2nd, 171 on 3rd, 187 on 4th, 184 on 5th, 179 on 6th and 136 on Wednesday, with the seven-days average at 171.
Over the last six years, the average AQI for the first seven days of October was 112 in 2021, 141 in 2022, 176 in 2023, 155 in 2024, 117 in 2025 and 171 this year, with October 2026 having the second most polluted first-week, after 2023, during the six-year period.
Delhi’s AQI stood at 136 on Wednesday, in the ‘moderate’ category, according to Central Pollution Control Board data.
The Air Quality Early Warning System has forecast that Delhi’s air quality is likely to remain in ‘moderate’ between October 8 and 10. The prevailing ventilation index below 6,000 square metres per second, coupled with an average wind speed of less than 10 kmph, is considered unfavourable for dispersion of pollutants.
As many as 70 stubble-burning incidents were detected on Wednesday, including 15 in Punjab, 11 in Uttar Pradesh, seven in Rajasthan and 37 in Madhya Pradesh, according to data from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute.