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As Tuesday dawned residents of the world's most polluted city found themselves breathing dangerously toxic air that fell into the "alarming" category.

Extremely High Air Quality Readings

Various sections of the capital recorded an AQI exceeding 500, which represents a tenfold increase over the recommended threshold recommended by the World Health Organization.

Certain monitoring stations, concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 hit highs of eighteen hundred, equating to fifteen to twenty times above acceptable standards.

Firecracker Ban and New Changes

For the past four years, the government had maintained a complete ban on the purchase and ignition of pyrotechnics during celebrations due to their significant contribution to the dangerous haze that engulfs the city as the cold season approaches.

Nevertheless recently, the recently formed local leadership appealed to the judicial authority to request a modification of the restrictions.

They proposed allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – historically criticized by environmentalists as being only about 30% lower impact – as a middle ground between "tradition and environment".

Court Decision and Enforcement

Despite concerns of environmental and health advocates, the court agreed to the request, specifying that green firecrackers could be used during limited hours throughout the Diwali.

Throughout the festival evening, there was extensive flouting of the time restrictions across the metropolis, with insufficient enforcement regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the supposedly greener type.

Several air quality sensors throughout Delhi registered air quality spiking around late evening to the most severe measurements recorded during the festival in at least the past three years.

Regional Consequences

The proliferation of firecrackers during the celebrations also initiated a dispute with adjacent Pakistan, with representatives in Pakistani the Punjab region partly blaming worsening atmospheric conditions in Lahore on contaminants coming from neighboring India following the events.

Chronic Environmental Problem

The dangerously high concentrations of pollution in the city have continued as a serious problem for more than 15 years, with the problem gradually deteriorating.

Around the festival period, the levels of hazardous particles in the air has been documented to increase dramatically to 70% higher the peak levels ever documented in the Chinese city, which was formerly considered as the globally most contaminated metropolis.

Diverse Pollution Sources

This crisis in Delhi is caused by a convergence of multiple factors including automobile exhaust, dust, building projects, garbage fires and haze from agricultural fires in nearby regions of neighboring agricultural zones.

Throughout these areas, rural residents routinely burn crop residue to expedite field preparation, producing hazardous pollution that then gets trapped over the metropolitan area as cooler air descends.

Medical and Financial Consequences

Both financial and medical consequences on the nearly 33 million inhabitants residing in the metropolitan zone is enormous, according to various research.

This pollution causes high levels of neurological, heart and circulatory and lung diseases, and can even lead to malignancies.

Environmental contamination is projected to be accounting for 10,000 early deaths per year in the capital.