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On Tuesday morning inhabitants of the planet's dirtiest urban center encountered breathing dangerously toxic air that fell into the "severe" range.

Record-Breaking Air Quality Levels

Various sections of the capital registered an AQI exceeding 500, which translates to ten times the healthy threshold established by the WHO.

Certain monitoring stations, levels of PM2.5 and PM10 hit highs of 1,800, representing 15-20x above healthy levels.

Fireworks Ban and Recent Developments

Since 2020, officials had implemented a comprehensive restriction on the purchase and ignition of fireworks during Diwali due to their significant contribution to the dangerous haze that covers the city as the cold season approaches.

Yet earlier this year, the current city government appealed to the judicial authority to propose a modification of the prohibition.

Officials advocated for allowing "green crackers" – historically criticized by environmentalists as being only about 30% reduced emissions – as a middle ground between "tradition and environment".

Legal Ruling and Enforcement

To the disappointment of medical and ecological campaigners, the court agreed to the proposal, stipulating that green firecrackers could be ignited during limited time windows throughout the celebrations.

During the celebrations, there was extensive disregard of the designated hours across the capital, with insufficient regulation regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the supposedly greener variety.

Many monitoring devices throughout Delhi recorded pollution peaking around late evening to the most severe measurements recorded during celebrations in at least three years.

Regional Implications

The widespread use of firecrackers during the celebrations also triggered a blame game with neighbouring Pakistan, with officials in Pakistan's Punjab pointing to declining pollution levels in the city of Lahore on contaminants originating in neighboring India following the festivities.

Long-Standing Environmental Problem

Alarmingly severe readings of atmospheric toxins in the city have persisted as a significant challenge for over a decade and a half, with the situation showing no improvement.

During celebratory seasons, the levels of toxic particles in the environment has been observed to increase dramatically to significantly exceeding the peak readings ever recorded in the Chinese city, which was previously considered as the world's most polluted metropolis.

Diverse Contamination Factors

The situation in Delhi is resulting from a convergence of multiple factors including transportation pollution, dust, building projects, waste incineration and haze from agricultural fires in neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana.

Within these states, rural residents routinely set their fields on fire to expedite field preparation, creating dangerous haze that becomes contained over the city as colder air sets in.

Health and Economic Consequences

The economic and health consequences on the roughly thirty-three million inhabitants calling home the metropolitan zone is significant, according to various investigations.

These hazardous conditions leads to increased incidence of neurological, heart and circulatory and respiratory conditions, and can even lead to malignancies.

Environmental contamination is projected to be responsible for approximately 10k premature deaths per year in Delhi.