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Tuesday brought citizens of this heavily contaminated metropolis found themselves exposed to severely hazardous air that fell into the "alarming" category.

Alarming Air Quality Measurements

Multiple areas of Delhi registered an air quality index over 500, which represents a tenfold increase over the recommended level recommended by the World Health Organization.

Particular areas, concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 reached peaks of 1,800, representing fifteen to twenty times exceeding acceptable standards.

Fireworks Prohibition and New Changes

Beginning in 2020, the government had maintained a comprehensive restriction on the purchase and ignition of firecrackers during the Festival of Lights due to their substantial impact to the dangerous smog that blankets the capital as colder weather begins.

However in recent months, the recently formed regional administration petitioned the highest court to propose a easing of the ban.

They proposed allowing "eco-friendly fireworks" – historically criticized by environmentalists as being only roughly 30 percent less polluting – as a compromise between "heritage and environment".

Court Ruling and Reality

Despite concerns of medical and ecological activists, the court agreed to the appeal, stipulating that green firecrackers could be set off during designated hours throughout the festival.

On Monday night, there was widespread flouting of the designated hours across the capital, with insufficient enforcement regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the eco-friendly variety.

Many monitoring devices throughout the city showed air quality reaching highest levels around the night hours to some of the worst measurements seen during Diwali in at least the past three years.

Cross-Border Consequences

The widespread use of firecrackers during the celebrations also sparked a blame game with adjacent the neighboring country, with authorities in Pakistani Punjab partly blaming declining pollution levels in Lahore on pollutants traveling from India following the celebrations.

Chronic Environmental Problem

Extremely elevated levels of air contamination in the city have continued as a major challenge for over a decade and a half, with the condition gradually deteriorating.

Near the festival period, the amount of hazardous particles in the atmosphere has been documented to increase dramatically to 70% higher the most severe levels ever measured in the Chinese city, which was once considered as the world's most polluted metropolis.

Multiple Contamination Sources

This crisis in the capital is attributed to a convergence of various sources including automobile exhaust, construction debris, building projects, garbage fires and smoke from agricultural fires in neighbouring states of neighboring agricultural zones.

Within these states, farmers routinely set their fields on fire to clear them quickly, creating hazardous haze that becomes contained over the metropolitan area as winter air sets in.

Health and Financial Toll

Public health and economic toll on the nearly 33 million residents calling home the metropolitan zone is substantial, according to multiple investigations.

The contaminated air results in elevated rates of neurological, heart and circulatory and lung conditions, and can even lead to oncological diseases.

Environmental contamination is estimated to be causing approximately 10k early deaths per year in Delhi.