Delhi pollution : Since Delhi‘s pollution was alarming, Supreme court gave orders to ban the sale of firecrackers in National Capital Region (NCR) a week before Diwali. The court, however, had allowed the bursting of firecrackers that had already been bought by residents.A study by Goa-based research group Urban Emissions has now concluded that the ban had no effect on pollution in Delhi-NCR.The organisation had made some forecasts about pollution levels on October 19 (the day of Diwali), 20 and 21 for three scenarios:                                                                                                                            Ban leads to 0% reduction in crackers (which means all crackers were burnt)
Ban leads to 25% reduction in crackers
Ban leads to 50% reduction in crackers.                                                                                                         The organisation assumed the entire stock of crackers to be 50 lakh kilos, a number provided by distributors in documents submitted to the Supreme Court, saying that in the five days of Diwali, 10 lakh kilos of firecrackers are used per day. Turns out that the levels matched the 0% reduction-in-crackers-scenario. In other words, pollution levels in the region would have matched the forecast if all the crackers that remained unsold had been burst.The pollution level for this diwali as reported by SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research) was that 24-hour rolling average for PM2.5 and PM10 were 154 and 256 micrograms per cubic metre respectively at around 11 pm on Diwali day. However, as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the air quality in Delhi on Diwali was better than last year.

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