Air of Deepavali celebrations continue in Hyderabad with AQI remaining at hazardous levels

Smog blankets Bapughat Road in Attapur, a day after Deepavali celebrations, as air quality worsens in Hyderabad on November 9, 2026. Photo credit: Siddhant Thakur

Hyderabad woke up to a gray smoggy morning on Monday (November 9, 2026) a day after the Big Bang Deepavali celebrations that lasted till 3 am in many central localities like Banjara Hills, Srinagar Colony, Panjagutta, SR Nagar, Ameerpet and Somajiguda.

Hyderabad’s air quality worsened during the night itself with particulate matter 2.5 reaching 392 micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m³) at 9:30 pm and the air quality index averaged 509. At the same time, Ravi Colony near Masjid Banda recorded 995 AQI as biscuits came out one after the other.

The data was obtained from publicly available pollution monitors as the Telangana Pollution Control Board’s monitors were out of order as air pollution increased. At 10 pm, TSPCB University of Hyderabad monitoring station was offline.

The air had a metallic sulfur smell in many areas as the crackers exploded one by one. “This is the first time I have experienced such bad air pollution in Hyderabad. My eyes are burning, the air is thick with the smell of burnt chemicals and gunpowder, and the very smell of breathing is unpleasant. It is only 10 pm. The entire colony is still outside, crackers are bursting relentlessly. The roads are covered with the remains of firecrackers, which is captured on social media by one firecracker user and this fraction.

The high AQI records were almost evenly distributed across the city as the 20 degree Celsius wind blew from the northeast direction.

Air pollution peaked at 9:30 PM and then slowly declined overnight. At 11:30 PM, when Hyderabad’s average AQI was 442, Serilingampally recorded a high of 666.

By morning, it still remained dangerous at 178 AQI with PM 10 reaching 113 μg/m³.

Published – 9 Nov 2026 08:54 IST