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Tuesday brought inhabitants of the world's most polluted city were faced with inhaling severely hazardous air that fell into the "severe" category.

Extremely High Pollution Levels

Several parts of the city showed an pollution measurement above 500, which translates to a tenfold increase over the healthy threshold established by the global health authority.

Particular areas, concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 soared to of 1,800, representing 15-20x exceeding safe standards.

Pyrotechnics Prohibition and Current Changes

For the past four years, the government had enforced a complete ban on the purchase and ignition of fireworks during Diwali due to their significant contribution to the deadly smog that covers the capital as the cold season sets in.

Yet in recent months, the recently formed local leadership approached the supreme court to propose a relaxation of the prohibition.

Officials advocated for allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – previously doubted by environmental experts as being only approximately one-third lower impact – as a compromise between "tradition and ecological concerns".

Court Decision and Reality

Despite concerns of environmental and health campaigners, judges agreed to the proposal, mandating that environmentally conscious fireworks could be set off during limited time windows throughout the Diwali.

Throughout the festival evening, there was widespread flouting of the regulated periods across the city, with insufficient enforcement regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the more environmentally friendly type.

Numerous monitoring devices throughout the city registered air quality spiking around midnight to extremely hazardous levels observed during Diwali in at least recent memory.

Regional Effects

Extensive ignition of pyrotechnics during the celebrations also initiated a blame game with neighbouring Pakistan, with authorities in Pakistani the Punjab region pointing to deteriorating air quality in their urban centers on pollutants traveling from India following the festivities.

Long-Standing Pollution Problem

Extremely elevated levels of atmospheric toxins in Delhi have persisted as a serious issue for over a decade and a half, with the problem showing no improvement.

Near Diwali, the amount of dangerous airborne contaminants in the atmosphere has been observed to spike to seventy percent above the peak records ever measured in China's capital, which was formerly viewed as the globally most contaminated city.

Multiple Contamination Sources

The situation in the capital is resulting from a mix of multiple factors including heavy vehicle emissions, construction debris, building projects, rubbish burning and haze from farm burning in adjacent states of farming communities.

Throughout these areas, rural residents regularly ignite agricultural waste to prepare for next season, creating dangerous haze that becomes contained over the metropolitan area as colder air arrives.

Health and Economic Impact

Public health and economic consequences on the roughly thirty-three million people living in the metropolitan zone is substantial, according to various studies.

The contaminated air results in elevated rates of nervous system, heart and circulatory and respiratory conditions, and can result in oncological diseases.

Air quality crisis is calculated to be accounting for 10,000 early fatalities annually in Delhi.