The national capital saw a 30 per cent drop in incidents of bursting of firecrackers on Diwali this year as against last year and recorded its best air quality for the day after the festival in five years, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Tuesday.

The air quality index (AQI) stood at 323 on Tuesday (the day after Diwali) as compared to 462 last year, which means the “air pollution declined by over 30 per cent”, he said. The AQI on the day after Diwali stood at 390 in 2018, 368 in 2019 and 435 in 2020, he added.