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On Tuesday morning inhabitants of the planet's dirtiest urban center encountered exposed to extremely polluted air that was classified as the "alarming" level.

Extremely High Pollution Measurements

Several parts of the city registered an pollution measurement exceeding 500, which represents 10x the healthy threshold recommended by the World Health Organization.

Certain monitoring stations, concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 soared to of 1800, representing 15 to 20 times above safe standards.

Fireworks Ban and Recent Changes

For the past four years, the government had enforced a total prohibition on the sale and use of pyrotechnics during Diwali due to their major role to the deadly pollution that covers the metropolis as colder weather approaches.

However earlier this year, the newly elected city administration approached the judicial authority to request a modification of the ban.

Officials advocated for allowing "eco-friendly fireworks" – historically doubted by environmental experts as being only approximately one-third less polluting – as a middle ground between "tradition and ecological concerns".

Court Ruling and Reality

Much to the frustration of environmental and health campaigners, judges agreed to the appeal, stipulating that environmentally conscious fireworks could be ignited during specific time windows throughout the festival.

During the celebrations, there was considerable flouting of the time restrictions across the capital, with insufficient regulation regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the supposedly greener version.

Numerous recording stations throughout the capital registered pollution reaching highest levels around the night hours to extremely hazardous measurements seen during the festival in at least recent memory.

International Consequences

The proliferation of firecrackers during the celebrations also triggered a blame game with bordering the neighboring country, with authorities in Pakistani Punjab pointing to declining pollution levels in Lahore on hazardous particles traveling from India following the celebrations.

Persistent Pollution Problem

Extremely elevated readings of air contamination in the city have persisted as a serious issue for over a decade and a half, with the situation continuing to worsen.

During the festival period, the levels of hazardous airborne contaminants in the atmosphere has been observed to shoot up to seventy percent above the peak records ever documented in Beijing, which was previously considered as the globally most contaminated metropolis.

Multiple Pollution Factors

The situation in the city is resulting from a mix of different contributors including heavy vehicle emissions, construction debris, development work, garbage fires and haze from crop residue ignition in neighbouring regions of Punjab and Haryana.

Throughout these areas, farmers regularly set their fields on fire to prepare for next season, creating hazardous pollution that remains stagnant over the metropolitan area as colder air arrives.

Medical and Financial Toll

Public health and economic impact on the roughly thirty-three million people living in the capital region is substantial, according to various investigations.

These hazardous conditions results in increased incidence of neurological, cardiovascular and lung diseases, and can potentially cause oncological diseases.

Air quality crisis is calculated to be responsible for ten thousand premature fatalities each year in Delhi.