DUSSEHRA EVENING IN DELHI, HOUR BY HOUR

of Delhi's 43 stations were Poor or worse on the hourly index between 9 and 10 PM on Dussehra, while the most on any of the five evenings before was 20.

Stations Poor or worse, 9 to 10 PM, the same 43 stations each evening

The city, 9 and 10 PM: the hourly index stood at 283, in the Poor band, against 166 on the five evenings before. This is an hourly index, which applies CPCB's AQI breakpoints to one hour's PM2.5 and PM10 readings, so it is not CPCB's 24-hour AQI.

Source: CPCB's hourly station readings via CREA's measurements service, read at 22:17 IST on 20 October 2026, on CPCB's AQI breakpoints.

Dussehra evening, Delhi

20 October 2026 · 6 PM to 10 PM, the hourly index on CPCB's AQI scale

Published by Shri Ajay Maken, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha

Dussehra evening, Delhi, 20 October 2026

CONTENTS

The evening, hour by hour

The hourly index, 6 PM to 10 PM, against 15 to 19 October

The evening climb

The rise from 5 PM, each evening

CPCB's bands at the last hour

Stations by band, 9 to 10 PM

The highest stations

Ten stations, 6 PM to 10 PM, against their own evenings

The sharpest rises

Each station against its own normal

Annexure A. Every station

55 stations, hour by hour, against their own usual

Annexure B. How these figures were made

The index, the data, the checks

Dussehra evening, Delhi | 20 October 2026

Hourly index · 5 PM to 10 PM · 15 to 20 October

The hourly index each evening, the same 43 stations

Hour	15 Oct	16 Oct	17 Oct	18 Oct	19 Oct	Tonight	Five before	Times
5 to 6 PM	43	81	146	97	115	130	96	1.36
6 to 7 PM	53	92	158	108	127	146	108	1.36
7 to 8 PM	67	127	187	134	153	179	134	1.34
8 to 9 PM	79	154	208	142	185	230	154	1.50
9 to 10 PM	82	179	211	158	200	283	166	1.71

READING

Each line is one evening, which is averaged over the same 43 stations. Tonight began higher than four of the five, but from 8 PM it stayed above all of them.

CAUTION

This is an hourly index, which applies CPCB's AQI breakpoints to one hour's PM2.5 and PM10 readings, so it is not CPCB's 24-hour AQI. The weather of each evening has not been removed.

SOURCE

CPCB's hourly station readings, as CREA's measurements service (api.energyandcleanair.org) served them at 22:17 IST on 20 October 2026.

THE POINT

Between 9 and 10 PM Delhi's hourly index stood at 283, in CPCB's Poor band, against 166 on the five evenings before.

Dussehra evening, Delhi | 20 October 2026

Hourly index · the climb from 5 PM to 10 PM

The climb, 5 to 6 PM to 9 to 10 PM (points)

2.2

TIMES THE USUAL CLIMB

The hourly index climbed 153 points from 5 PM tonight, while the usual climb on the five evenings before was 70.

Evening	At 5 to 6 PM	At 9 to 10 PM	Climb
15 Oct	43	82	40
16 Oct	81	179	98
17 Oct	146	211	66
18 Oct	97	158	61
19 Oct	115	200	85
Tonight	130	283	153
Five evenings before, average	96	166	70

READING

The climb is the rise from the 5 PM hour to the 9 PM hour, which is measured on the same stations. It sets aside how polluted each evening was before it began.

CAUTION

This is an hourly index, which applies CPCB's AQI breakpoints to one hour's PM2.5 and PM10 readings, so it is not CPCB's 24-hour AQI. The largest climb before was 98, which came on 16 Oct.

SOURCE

CPCB's hourly station readings, as CREA's measurements service (api.energyandcleanair.org) served them at 22:17 IST on 20 October 2026.

THE POINT

On the same 43 stations the hourly index climbed 153 points tonight, while an average evening of that week climbed 70.

Dussehra evening, Delhi | 20 October 2026

Hourly index · CPCB's bands · 9 to 10 PM

Stations by CPCB band, 9 to 10 PM, the same 43 stations

Evening	Moderate	Poor	Very Poor	Severe	Poor or worse
15 Oct	9	1	0	0	1
16 Oct	24	5	6	1	12
17 Oct	21	13	5	2	20
18 Oct	28	6	1	1	8
19 Oct	23	13	5	1	19
Tonight	11	10	18	4	32

READING

Each bar counts the same 43 stations by the CPCB band their hourly index reached between 9 and 10 PM; Good and Satisfactory stations are left out of the bars.

CAUTION

This is an hourly index, which applies CPCB's AQI breakpoints to one hour's PM2.5 and PM10 readings, so it is not CPCB's 24-hour AQI. A band names the hour's reading, and it does not describe the whole day.

SOURCE

CPCB's hourly station readings, as CREA's measurements service (api.energyandcleanair.org) served them at 22:17 IST on 20 October 2026.

THE POINT

Between 9 and 10 PM, 32 of the 43 stations were Poor or worse tonight, while the most on any evening before was 20.

Dussehra evening, Delhi | 20 October 2026

Hourly index · stations · 6 PM to 10 PM

The hourly index, 6 PM to 10 PM: the ten highest stations tonight

READING

Each row sets a station's average index for 6 PM to 10 PM tonight beside its own average, which covers the same hours on 15 to 19 October.

CAUTION

This is an hourly index, which applies CPCB's AQI breakpoints to one hour's PM2.5 and PM10 readings, so it is not CPCB's 24-hour AQI. A station's usual evening is built from the hours that it reported.

SOURCE

CPCB's hourly station readings, as CREA's measurements service (api.energyandcleanair.org) served them at 22:17 IST on 20 October 2026.

THE POINT

All ten of tonight's highest stations read at least 26 per cent above the evenings that they had that week.

Dussehra evening, Delhi | 20 October 2026

Hourly index · the sharpest rises · 6 PM to 10 PM

Tonight against each station's own evening, 6 PM to 10 PM (times)

Station	Tonight	Its usual	Times
Burari	235	93	2.5
JNU	191	85	2.2
NSUT Jaffarpur	254	122	2.1
Tikri Kalan	117	64	1.8
Ghummanhera	107	59	1.8
Mandir Marg	203	114	1.8
Ashok Vihar	198	112	1.8
Sonia Vihar	211	119	1.8

READING

Each bar divides a station's index tonight by its own usual evening, so it shows where the air changed most against its own normal.

CAUTION

This is an hourly index, which applies CPCB's AQI breakpoints to one hour's PM2.5 and PM10 readings, so it is not CPCB's 24-hour AQI. A station whose usual evenings are clean can show a large ratio from a modest level.

SOURCE

CPCB's hourly station readings, as CREA's measurements service (api.energyandcleanair.org) served them at 22:17 IST on 20 October 2026.

THE POINT

Of the 55 stations that reported every hour, 53 read above their own usual evening between 6 PM and 10 PM.

Dussehra evening, Delhi | 20 October 2026

Annexure A · every station · 6 PM to 10 PM

Station	6 to 7	7 to 8	8 to 9	9 to 10	Tonight	Usual	Times	Band
Shadipur	183	242	500	500	356	233	1.5	Severe
Jahangirpuri	309	320	338	371	334	205	1.6	Very Poor
Sirifort	280	316	337	309	311	227	1.4	Very Poor
Punjabi Bagh	170	302	342	367	295	202	1.5	Very Poor
R K Puram	206	263	339	368	294	224	1.3	Very Poor
Dwarka-Sector 8	168	202	303	500	293	222	1.3	Severe
CRRI Mathura Road	200	228	322	380	282	223	1.3	Very Poor
Patparganj	163	192	320	451	281	191	1.5	Severe
Pusa	110	330	318	352	278	169	1.6	Very Poor
Bawana	193	287	305	323	277	174	1.6	Very Poor
Chandni Chowk	171	198	243	488	275	174	1.6	Severe
Nehru Nagar	127	379	240	319	266	177	1.5	Very Poor
Okhla Phase-2	150	233	309	363	264	174	1.5	Very Poor
Pusa	298	273	177	306	263	174	1.5	Very Poor
Wazirpur	165	226	273	381	261	261	1.0	Very Poor
Burari Crossing	182	239	300	309	258	157	1.6	Very Poor
NSUT Jaffarpur	161	235	305	315	254	122	2.1	Very Poor
Vivek Vihar	138	213	310	353	254	188	1.4	Very Poor
Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range	170	167	306	363	252	153	1.6	Very Poor
IIT Delhi	248	296	254	199	249	157	1.6	Moderate
Rohini	146	197	318	321	245	161	1.5	Very Poor
DTU	136	203	301	318	239	142	1.7	Very Poor
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium	207	213	217	312	237	171	1.4	Very Poor
Narela	228	177	237	303	236	184	1.3	Very Poor
Burari	105	122	324	387	235	93	2.5	Very Poor
Najafgarh	150	230	267	277	231	132	1.8	Poor
North Campus, DU	158	180	251	311	225	131	1.7	Very Poor
Mundka	147	170	270	312	225	178	1.3	Very Poor
Alipur	131	217	223	302	218	148	1.5	Very Poor
Sonia Vihar	150	167	233	293	211	119	1.8	Poor
IGI Airport (T3)	149	175	225	282	208	141	1.5	Poor
Mandir Marg	104	163	233	310	203	114	1.8	Very Poor

Continues on the next page.

Dussehra evening, Delhi | 20 October 2026

Annexure A · every station · 6 PM to 10 PM

Station	6 to 7	7 to 8	8 to 9	9 to 10	Tonight	Usual	Times	Band
Ashok Vihar	107	127	233	325	198	112	1.8	Very Poor
Aya Nagar	117	143	233	280	193	123	1.6	Poor
JNU	175	181	178	230	191	85	2.2	Poor
NSIT Dwarka	157	163	192	237	187	157	1.2	Poor
Commonwealth Sports Complex	144	175	193	221	183	129	1.4	Poor
Cantonment Area	137	181	194	181	173	155	1.1	Moderate
Nangloi	128	134	160	261	171	117	1.5	Poor
Talkatora Garden	116	139	176	241	168	98	1.7	Poor
Vasundhara Enclave	111	128	174	246	165	130	1.3	Poor
IGNOU_Maidan Garhi	136	149	170	200	164	104	1.6	Poor
Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium	131	149	183	183	162	148	1.1	Moderate
Jharoda Kalan	128	132	182	190	158	113	1.4	Moderate
NIH Narela	107	120	159	224	153	90	1.7	Poor
Anand Vihar	123	137	141	158	140	150	0.9	Moderate
Sri Aurobindo Marg	145	122	125	117	128	110	1.2	Moderate
Karala	94	101	129	178	126	75	1.7	Moderate
Chhawla	112	113	123	147	124	177	0.7	Moderate
Tikri Kalan	88	94	112	175	117	64	1.8	Moderate
IMD Lodhi Road	107	105	119	131	115	97	1.2	Moderate
Ghoga	85	118	116	121	110	92	1.2	Moderate
IHBAS, Dilshad Garden	79	101	114	134	107	78	1.4	Moderate
Ghummanhera	81	91	106	149	107	59	1.8	Moderate
Badarpur	63	72	90	119	86	63	1.4	Moderate

READING

The hour columns run from 6 PM, and Tonight averages them for 6 PM to 10 PM. Usual is the average that a station recorded for the same hours on 15 to 19 October, while Band is its CPCB band between 9 and 10 PM.

CAUTION

This is an hourly index, which applies CPCB's AQI breakpoints to one hour's PM2.5 and PM10 readings, so it is not CPCB's 24-hour AQI. A station that missed an hour tonight is left out, because no reading is estimated.

SOURCE

CPCB's hourly station readings, as CREA's measurements service (api.energyandcleanair.org) served them at 22:17 IST on 20 October 2026.

THE POINT

Of the 55 stations, 53 read above their own usual evening, while Shadipur reached 500, the top of the scale, between 8 and 9 PM.

Dussehra evening, Delhi | 20 October 2026

Annexure B · method

Item	How it was done
The hourly index	For each station and hour, the sub-index of the PM2.5 reading and of the PM10 reading on CPCB's breakpoints, and the higher of the two. CPCB's method is in How AQI is calculated and its AQI Calculator.
What it is not	CPCB's AQI averages 24 hours, so a single hour on the same scale is an hourly index, which this report never calls the AQI.
The city figure	The mean of the station indices, as CPCB's city AQI is the mean of its stations, over the same 43 stations on all six evenings.
The data	CPCB's hourly readings from Delhi's monitoring stations, which CREA's public measurements service takes from CPCB's own feed.
When it was read	One pull at 22:17 IST on 20 October 2026, which carries every figure here.
The hours	A stamp marks the start of its hour, so the 21:00 stamp is the hour from 9 to 10 PM.
Quality check	Readings at or below zero are removed, as are readings at or above 1,000 µg/m³.
What is not done	The weather of each evening is not removed, and no source is named for the pollution.
The data file	Held by this office and available on request.

READING

Every index here comes from hourly readings that were read once and never adjusted, so any figure can be rebuilt from the data file and CPCB's calculator.

CAUTION

This is an hourly index, which applies CPCB's AQI breakpoints to one hour's PM2.5 and PM10 readings, so it is not CPCB's 24-hour AQI.

SOURCE

CPCB's hourly station readings, as CREA's measurements service (api.energyandcleanair.org) served them at 22:17 IST on 20 October 2026.

THE POINT

One pull of CPCB's hourly data, which was read at 22:17 IST, carries every figure here.

Dussehra evening, Delhi | 20 October 2026