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Tuesday brought citizens of the world's most polluted city were faced with exposed to severely hazardous air that registered in the "alarming" category.

Extremely High Air Quality Readings

Multiple areas of Delhi showed an pollution measurement exceeding 500, which equals 10x the healthy level set by the global health authority.

Particular areas, readings of dangerous airborne particles hit highs of 1,800, amounting to fifteen to twenty times above acceptable levels.

Fireworks Restrictions and New Policy Shifts

Beginning in 2020, authorities had implemented a complete ban on the distribution and bursting of pyrotechnics during the Festival of Lights due to their significant contribution to the dangerous pollution that blankets the capital as winter approaches.

Yet recently, the newly elected regional government petitioned the supreme court to seek a easing of the prohibition.

They proposed allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – which have been criticized by environmental experts as being only approximately one-third less polluting – as a compromise between "tradition and environment".

Judicial Decision and Reality

Despite concerns of public health and environmental campaigners, judicial authorities complied with the proposal, mandating that green firecrackers could be ignited during specific hours throughout the Diwali.

During the celebrations, there was widespread flouting of the regulated periods across the city, with minimal regulation regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the more environmentally friendly version.

Several monitoring devices throughout Delhi registered pollution peaking around the night hours to extremely hazardous readings observed during Diwali in at least the past three years.

Regional Effects

The widespread use of firecrackers during Diwali also triggered a dispute with neighbouring the neighboring country, with representatives in Pakistani Punjab province partially attributing worsening atmospheric conditions in their urban centers on contaminants coming from India following the celebrations.

Long-Standing Pollution Crisis

Extremely elevated levels of air contamination in the capital have remained as a significant problem for fifteen-plus years, with the problem gradually deteriorating.

During Diwali, the levels of dangerous airborne contaminants in the atmosphere has been found to spike to significantly exceeding the most severe levels ever recorded in Beijing, which was previously regarded as the globally most contaminated metropolis.

Various Contamination Factors

The problem in the city is caused by a mix of various sources including transportation pollution, construction debris, development work, waste incineration and smoke from farm burning in adjacent areas of neighboring agricultural zones.

In these regions, agricultural workers routinely ignite agricultural waste to expedite field preparation, creating hazardous pollution that becomes contained over the capital as colder air descends.

Public Health and Economic Toll

Public health and economic impact on the approximately 33 million people residing in the capital region is enormous, according to multiple studies.

These hazardous conditions leads to high levels of nervous system, cardiovascular and lung diseases, and can result in oncological diseases.

The pollution is projected to be causing approximately 10k untimely mortalities per year in Delhi.