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Tuesday brought residents of the world's most polluted city were faced with exposed to dangerously toxic air that fell into the "severe" category.

Extremely High Air Quality Levels

Multiple areas of Delhi registered an pollution measurement above 500, which equals 10x the safe threshold established by the WHO.

Certain monitoring stations, readings of PM2.5 and PM10 reached peaks of 1800, representing 15-20x above healthy limits.

Pyrotechnics Prohibition and Current Developments

Beginning in 2020, officials had enforced a total prohibition on the sale and use of firecrackers during the Festival of Lights due to their significant contribution to the dangerous smog that blankets the metropolis as winter sets in.

Nevertheless in recent months, the recently formed local government petitioned the supreme court to propose a easing of the prohibition.

They proposed allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – which have been doubted by conservation groups as being only roughly 30 percent less polluting – as a balance between "heritage and public health".

Judicial Ruling and Enforcement

To the disappointment of environmental and health activists, judges complied with the proposal, mandating that environmentally conscious fireworks could be ignited during designated time windows throughout the Diwali.

Throughout the festival evening, there was considerable flouting of the time restrictions across the capital, with little regulation regarding whether the pyrotechnics being used were actually the supposedly greener version.

Numerous recording stations throughout the capital recorded pollution reaching highest levels around midnight to the most severe measurements recorded during Diwali in at least recent memory.

Cross-Border Consequences

Extensive ignition of fireworks during Diwali also initiated a dispute with adjacent the neighboring country, with representatives in Pakistani the Punjab region pointing to deteriorating pollution levels in the city of Lahore on hazardous particles coming from across the border following the celebrations.

Long-Standing Environmental Crisis

The dangerously high levels of pollution in the capital have persisted as a major problem for over a decade and a half, with the situation gradually deteriorating.

Around Diwali, the amount of toxic airborne contaminants in the environment has been observed to spike to seventy percent above the peak levels ever recorded in Beijing, which was formerly viewed as the planet's dirtiest city.

Multiple Contamination Contributors

The problem in Delhi is resulting from a mix of various sources including automobile exhaust, airborne particles, development work, garbage fires and smoke from crop residue ignition in neighbouring areas of Punjab and Haryana.

Throughout these areas, agricultural workers illegally set their fields on fire to prepare for next season, generating toxic pollution that becomes contained over the metropolitan area as cooler air descends.

Public Health and Economic Impact

Public health and economic consequences on the nearly 33 million inhabitants living in the Delhi area is enormous, according to various research.

These hazardous conditions causes high levels of neurological, heart and circulatory and respiratory disorders, and can even lead to cancer.

Air quality crisis is calculated to be responsible for approximately 10k early fatalities annually in Delhi.