VARANASI: The Central Pollution Control Board recorded Varanasi's air quality index at 274, in the Poor category, at 4 pm IST on Monday, November 9, 2026. The new figure is 50 points above Sunday's reading and extends the deterioration since the November 7 reading of 175, as reported earlier on dalimss.news in its report on the city's November 7 air quality. People planning extended outdoor activity, including walks along Assi Ghat, should check the latest official reading before setting out.
All four of Varanasi's four monitoring stations contributed to Monday's bulletin. It identifies PM10 and PM2.5 as the prominent pollutants. The figure represents the preceding 24 hours, rather than an instantaneous measurement at every street or ghat. It therefore gives residents a dated citywide assessment, without establishing the precise exposure at Assi or another individual locality.
The board associates the Poor category with breathing discomfort for most people during prolonged exposure. For households deciding about morning exercise or a long outdoor visit, the practical response is to review the day's AQI and reduce exposure when conditions remain poor. National health guidance also calls for extra care among children, older people, pregnant women and people with existing heart or lung conditions.
What the November 9 bulletin shows
The official November 9 AQI bulletin places Varanasi in the 201 to 300 band. Its category is Poor, below Very Poor, which begins at 301. These are the board's classification boundaries. They should be read alongside its health statement, rather than treated as a guarantee that a particular individual will or will not experience symptoms.
- Assessment time: November 9, 2026, 4 pm IST.
- Measurement period: average of the preceding 24 hours.
- City index: 274, Poor.
- Prominent pollutants: PM10 and PM2.5.
- Monitoring coverage: four stations participating out of four.
The same official series put Varanasi at 224 on Sunday, November 8, also with all four stations participating and both particulate pollutants listed. Monday's increase of 50 points did not change the category because both readings fall within the Poor band. Saturday's 175 was Moderate, with PM10 listed as the prominent pollutant and four stations contributing. Across those two days, the index increased by 99 points.
That comparison uses the same publication series and the same daily assessment time. It does not establish which source caused the increase. The bulletin supplies neither a local emissions breakdown nor a calculation assigning the change to fireworks, traffic, dust or weather. A claim that one activity alone caused the latest reading would go beyond the evidence in these documents.
What residents should do
The National Centre for Disease Control's September 2022 health advisory on air pollution provides standing precautions for days with Poor to Severe air quality. It recommends rescheduling outdoor activities according to the AQI and avoiding morning and late evening outdoor walks, running, jogging and other physical exercise during those conditions. This is existing national guidance relevant to the latest reading, rather than a new Varanasi closure order.
The advisory recommends avoiding heavily polluted locations, including roads with slow, heavy traffic and construction or demolition sites. For vulnerable people, it advises restricting outdoor movement as far as possible when pollution is high. People with chronic heart or lung disease should follow their own doctor's instructions and keep prescribed medicines available. These precautions apply to exposure decisions; the bulletin itself does not announce school, workplace or public venue closures.
Inside homes, the guidance recommends wet mopping to limit dust exposure and avoiding smoke from tobacco, open waste burning and firecrackers. It also advises against burning mosquito coils or incense in enclosed rooms. Residents experiencing breathlessness, cough, chest discomfort or pain, dizziness or eye irritation should consult a doctor, according to the advisory.
Check the date and the nearest available reading
CPCB cautions that air quality can vary between monitoring locations. Its city figure averages available monitoring values for simplicity, and its own note acknowledges the limitations of that approach. A citywide index of 274 should therefore not be presented as a separate verified reading for every neighbourhood. Nor does Monday afternoon's bulletin establish Tuesday morning's conditions.
Residents can consult the official bulletin archive for subsequent updates. Earlier local coverage of the November 5 reading with four stations reporting and the November 4 Moderate reading provides dated background. For plans on Tuesday, November 10, the next available official observation should guide decisions about prolonged outdoor activity.
