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On Tuesday morning inhabitants of the world's most polluted city found themselves inhaling severely hazardous air that fell into the "severe" category.

Extremely High Air Quality Levels

Several parts of the capital registered an AQI exceeding 500, which equals 10x the healthy limit established by the WHO.

In some locations, readings of PM2.5 and PM10 soared to of eighteen hundred, amounting to fifteen to twenty times exceeding safe standards.

Fireworks Ban and Recent Changes

Beginning in 2020, officials had enforced a complete ban on the sale and use of firecrackers during celebrations due to their significant contribution to the dangerous smog that blankets the city as the cold season approaches.

However earlier this year, the current local government petitioned the supreme court to propose a modification of the prohibition.

They proposed allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – previously doubted by environmentalists as being only approximately one-third less polluting – as a compromise between "heritage and public health".

Judicial Decision and Implementation

Much to the frustration of medical and ecological activists, the court complied with the proposal, specifying that green firecrackers could be set off during specific periods throughout the festival.

During the celebrations, there was widespread violation of the time restrictions across the capital, with little enforcement regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the supposedly greener version.

Numerous recording stations throughout the capital registered air quality spiking around late evening to some of the worst levels seen during Diwali in at least the past three years.

Cross-Border Implications

The widespread use of firecrackers during the festival also sparked a blame game with bordering the neighboring country, with representatives in Pakistani Punjab province partly blaming deteriorating air quality in the city of Lahore on contaminants traveling from across the border following the festivities.

Long-Standing Pollution Crisis

Alarmingly severe levels of air contamination in the capital have persisted as a serious challenge for fifteen-plus years, with the problem gradually deteriorating.

During celebratory seasons, the amount of toxic particles in the atmosphere has been found to increase dramatically to seventy percent above the most severe records ever measured in Beijing, which was once regarded as the world's most polluted urban center.

Multiple Contamination Factors

This crisis in Delhi is attributed to a convergence of multiple factors including transportation pollution, dust, construction activities, garbage fires and pollutants from farm burning in adjacent areas of farming communities.

Within these states, farmers illegally set their fields on fire to prepare for next season, producing dangerous smog that then gets trapped over the metropolitan area as colder air sets in.

Health and Financial Consequences

Public health and economic toll on the nearly 33 million residents calling home the capital region is substantial, according to multiple investigations.

The contaminated air results in increased incidence of nervous system, cardiovascular and respiratory disorders, and can result in cancer.

Environmental contamination is projected to be accounting for ten thousand early deaths each year in Delhi.