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On Tuesday morning residents of the planet's dirtiest urban center found themselves breathing extremely polluted air that fell into the "severe" level.

Extremely High Air Quality Readings

Various sections of the city registered an AQI exceeding 500, which equals a tenfold increase over the healthy limit set by the global health authority.

In some locations, concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 hit highs of 1800, representing 15 to 20 times above acceptable levels.

Fireworks Restrictions and Recent Policy Shifts

For the past four years, officials had enforced a comprehensive restriction on the distribution and bursting of fireworks during the Festival of Lights due to their significant contribution to the hazardous smog that covers the city as the cold season sets in.

Nevertheless recently, the current city administration approached the supreme court to propose a relaxation of the restrictions.

They proposed allowing "green crackers" – which have been criticized by environmental experts as being only about 30% lower impact – as a compromise between "cultural practices and environment".

Judicial Ruling and Implementation

Despite concerns of public health and environmental advocates, the court approved the proposal, specifying that green firecrackers could be set off during specific hours throughout the celebrations.

During the celebrations, there was widespread flouting of the regulated periods across the capital, with minimal regulation regarding whether the pyrotechnics being used were actually the supposedly greener version.

Several air quality sensors throughout the capital showed pollution peaking around the night hours to extremely hazardous levels recorded during celebrations in at least recent memory.

Cross-Border Effects

The proliferation of fireworks during the festival also sparked a controversy with bordering the neighboring country, with authorities in Pakistan's the Punjab region partly blaming declining atmospheric conditions in the city of Lahore on pollutants coming from India following the events.

Long-Standing Pollution Issue

The dangerously high readings of air contamination in Delhi have continued as a major problem for fifteen-plus years, with the condition gradually deteriorating.

Around Diwali, the levels of dangerous airborne contaminants in the environment has been documented to shoot up to 70% higher the worst records ever documented in Beijing, which was once regarded as the world's most polluted city.

Various Pollution Sources

This crisis in Delhi is attributed to a mix of multiple factors including transportation pollution, airborne particles, construction activities, rubbish burning and haze from crop residue ignition in nearby areas of farming communities.

Within these states, agricultural workers routinely burn crop residue to clear them quickly, producing dangerous smog that remains stagnant over the capital as colder air descends.

Health and Economic Impact

The economic and health impact on the roughly thirty-three million inhabitants living in the Delhi area is significant, according to various investigations.

These hazardous conditions leads to high levels of nervous system, cardiovascular and breathing diseases, and can even lead to oncological diseases.

The pollution is calculated to be responsible for approximately 10k untimely mortalities annually in the city.