Mumbai: The city's air quality index climbed back to 146 on Thursday, a day after the 24-hour average had settled at 138, and the dirtiest reading came from Deonar at 214.
Shivaji Nagar in Mankhurd followed at 208, Malad West at 210 and Navy Nagar in Colaba at 201. BKC was at 199, Andheri's Chakala at 192, Kandivali at 174, Kherwadi at 168, Ghatkopar and Chembur at 168 and 167, and Shivdi at 139. Borivali recorded the cleanest air.
On Wednesday, 23 of the city's 25 working monitors had readings in the good, satisfactory or moderate bands, with only Navy Nagar at 207 and Malad West at 206 in the poor category. Thursday undid some of that.
Fire, more than particulate matter, is the number the city is still working through. The Mumbai Fire Brigade received 499 calls in the five days from 6 to 10 November, and 333 of those fires were caused by firecrackers, roughly 67 per cent. Nine November was the worst single day: 166 calls, 144 of them from crackers. Eight people were injured and two died across the five days.
On 8 November alone, the brigade logged 142 fire calls, 137 of them traced to firecrackers, and one person died. In 2025, firecrackers caused 113 of 289 fire calls during Diwali; in 2024, 80 of 262.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation responded on 9 November by banning rockets and other aerial fireworks across the city until 25 November, invoking the Disaster Management Act, 2005. The order covers residential buildings, terraces, balconies, courtyards, parking areas, public and private property and slum settlements, and cites the danger of burning debris from aerial fireworks landing on rooftops and balconies. It does not specify a penalty.
Dr Gufran Beig, chair professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, said stronger winds should keep the city's AQI in the 120-180 range over the next few days, with neither significant improvement nor deterioration. "The haze is currently trapped close to the surface because surface-level winds are weak. However, wind patterns have become more dynamic, and the coming days remain difficult to forecast due to the El Nino," he said.
Traffic and construction dust will now do what the crackers did. Thursday's forecast for the city is clear skies with a maximum of 34 to 37 degrees Celsius.