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On Tuesday morning citizens of the world's most polluted city were faced with inhaling dangerously toxic air that was classified as the "alarming" level.

Alarming Air Quality Measurements

Several parts of the city recorded an pollution measurement over 500, which translates to ten times the healthy threshold set by the WHO.

Certain monitoring stations, readings of PM2.5 and PM10 soared to of eighteen hundred, amounting to 15-20x higher than acceptable limits.

Fireworks Ban and Current Policy Shifts

For the past four years, officials had enforced a comprehensive restriction on the purchase and ignition of pyrotechnics during celebrations due to their major role to the dangerous smog that blankets the metropolis as colder weather approaches.

Nevertheless earlier this year, the current city leadership petitioned the judicial authority to seek a easing of the prohibition.

They proposed allowing "eco-friendly fireworks" – historically criticized by environmental experts as being only roughly 30 percent reduced emissions – as a middle ground between "tradition and ecological concerns".

Judicial Verdict and Enforcement

To the disappointment of public health and environmental activists, judicial authorities agreed to the proposal, specifying that environmentally conscious fireworks could be ignited during designated hours throughout the festival.

During the celebrations, there was extensive violation of the designated hours across the capital, with little monitoring regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the more environmentally friendly version.

Many recording stations throughout Delhi registered pollution peaking around midnight to the most severe measurements seen during the festival in at least recent memory.

Cross-Border Consequences

The widespread use of fireworks during Diwali also triggered a blame game with neighbouring the neighboring country, with representatives in Pakistani Punjab pointing to declining air quality in the city of Lahore on pollutants originating in neighboring India following the events.

Long-Standing Pollution Crisis

Alarmingly severe concentrations of air contamination in the capital have remained as a serious problem for over a decade and a half, with the situation showing no improvement.

Near Diwali, the levels of toxic airborne contaminants in the environment has been found to spike to seventy percent above the worst readings ever documented in China's capital, which was once viewed as the world's most polluted metropolis.

Various Contamination Contributors

The problem in the city is caused by a mix of different contributors including transportation pollution, airborne particles, construction activities, rubbish burning and pollutants from agricultural fires in neighbouring states of farming communities.

In these regions, farmers routinely ignite agricultural waste to expedite field preparation, creating toxic pollution that becomes contained over the city as winter air sets in.

Public Health and Economic Impact

Both financial and medical toll on the roughly thirty-three million residents residing in the capital region is significant, according to multiple studies.

This pollution results in high levels of neurological, heart and circulatory and lung conditions, and can result in cancer.

Environmental contamination is estimated to be responsible for approximately 10k early fatalities each year in the capital.