On the night of Diwali 2026 (November 8), Bhubaneswar’s air quality plunged into the hazardous zone as high-intensity firecrackers filled the skies with smoke. Real-time readings showed the Air Quality Index (AQI, US scale) surging past 1,000, with peaks reported near 1,254 and higher in some local trackers—far above the city’s normal levels that typically.