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As Tuesday dawned inhabitants of the planet's dirtiest urban center were faced with inhaling dangerously toxic air that was classified as the "severe" category.

Alarming Air Quality Readings

Various sections of Delhi registered an AQI above 500, which translates to 10x the safe level established by the global health authority.

In some locations, levels of PM2.5 and PM10 soared to of 1,800, representing 15-20x higher than safe limits.

Pyrotechnics Ban and Recent Changes

For the past four years, officials had implemented a total prohibition on the sale and use of fireworks during the Festival of Lights due to their significant contribution to the hazardous haze that engulfs the capital as the cold season begins.

However recently, the newly elected local administration petitioned the supreme court to propose a easing of the restrictions.

They proposed allowing "eco-friendly fireworks" – historically questioned by environmental experts as being only approximately one-third reduced emissions – as a middle ground between "tradition and ecological concerns".

Judicial Ruling and Reality

To the disappointment of medical and ecological campaigners, the court complied with the appeal, stipulating that environmentally conscious fireworks could be ignited during specific hours throughout the festival.

Throughout the festival evening, there was widespread flouting of the regulated periods across the capital, with insufficient regulation regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the eco-friendly type.

Several air quality sensors throughout the capital showed air quality reaching highest levels around midnight to the most severe measurements seen during the festival in at least three years.

International Consequences

The proliferation of firecrackers during Diwali also sparked a dispute with bordering the neighboring country, with authorities in Pakistan's Punjab province partly blaming worsening pollution levels in the city of Lahore on contaminants traveling from neighboring India following the events.

Chronic Pollution Crisis

The dangerously high readings of atmospheric toxins in the capital have remained as a major problem for fifteen-plus years, with the situation continuing to worsen.

Around Diwali, the concentration of hazardous particulate matter in the environment has been observed to shoot up to significantly exceeding the most severe readings ever recorded in Beijing, which was previously considered as the globally most contaminated metropolis.

Multiple Pollution Factors

This crisis in Delhi is resulting from a mix of different contributors including transportation pollution, dust, construction activities, waste incineration and haze from agricultural fires in neighbouring areas of Punjab and Haryana.

Throughout these areas, agricultural workers illegally burn crop residue to expedite field preparation, producing hazardous smog that becomes contained over the city as cooler air descends.

Health and Economic Impact

The economic and health consequences on the approximately 33 million residents living in the metropolitan zone is significant, according to multiple research.

The contaminated air results in elevated rates of nervous system, heart and circulatory and breathing disorders, and can even lead to oncological diseases.

Environmental contamination is estimated to be responsible for 10,000 untimely mortalities annually in Delhi.