It's the last day of November, and as per Central Pollution Control Board data the average AQI in the capital this month was in the 'severe' range for nine days.

The month had three spells of smog when the AQI was above 390.

The first such streak was recorded from November 2 to November 9. Rain on November 10 provided some relief. However, the AQI saw a sharp rise from 218 on November 12 to 358 on November 13 due to Diwali firecrackers coinciding with adverse weather conditions and stubble burning, as reported by the TimesofIndia.

Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment, said, "The combination of adverse meteorology, impact of farm fires and high local pollution has made November so polluted this year. Even when the farm fire season was over, the average AQI of Delhi remained above 390 with many stations witnessing 'severe' air quality. This shows high influence of pollution sources in local and surrounding regions.

Sunil Dahiya, analyst, Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, said, "In the absence of systematic actions across the air-shed on reducing the emission load from polluting sectors such as transport, industry and power generation etc over the past years, hazardous air quality levels have become a normal and repetitive phenomena. One of the examples of regressive regulation for pollution control is the revised GRAP, which leaves polluting sectors such as coal-based power stations and industries out of action list in different AQI categories, which were earlier directed to close their operations over the past years."