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On Tuesday morning residents of the planet's dirtiest urban center found themselves exposed to extremely polluted air that was classified as the "critical" category.

Extremely High Air Quality Readings

Multiple areas of the capital showed an pollution measurement over 500, which translates to a tenfold increase over the healthy threshold recommended by the World Health Organization.

Certain monitoring stations, levels of toxic particulate matter reached peaks of 1,800, amounting to fifteen to twenty times exceeding acceptable levels.

Pyrotechnics Prohibition and Recent Developments

For the past four years, authorities had enforced a complete ban on the sale and use of pyrotechnics during celebrations due to their major role to the deadly haze that blankets the metropolis as the cold season sets in.

However earlier this year, the current regional government approached the judicial authority to propose a relaxation of the restrictions.

They proposed allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – historically doubted by conservation groups as being only approximately one-third less polluting – as a balance between "heritage and public health".

Court Verdict and Reality

Much to the frustration of public health and environmental advocates, judicial authorities complied with the proposal, specifying that environmentally conscious fireworks could be used during designated periods throughout the festival.

During the celebrations, there was widespread flouting of the regulated periods across the metropolis, with minimal monitoring regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the supposedly greener version.

Several air quality sensors throughout the capital registered air quality spiking around the night hours to the most severe measurements seen during Diwali in at least three years.

Cross-Border Consequences

The widespread use of pyrotechnics during Diwali also initiated a blame game with neighbouring the neighboring country, with officials in Pakistani Punjab partly blaming worsening atmospheric conditions in the city of Lahore on contaminants traveling from neighboring India following the celebrations.

Chronic Pollution Problem

Extremely elevated levels of atmospheric toxins in the city have continued as a major problem for over a decade and a half, with the situation showing no improvement.

Around the festival period, the levels of hazardous particles in the atmosphere has been found to spike to seventy percent above the worst readings ever recorded in the Chinese city, which was formerly regarded as the world's most polluted city.

Various Contamination Sources

This crisis in Delhi is caused by a convergence of multiple factors including automobile exhaust, construction debris, construction activities, waste incineration and smoke from farm burning in adjacent states of Punjab and Haryana.

Throughout these areas, farmers regularly set their fields on fire to clear them quickly, creating hazardous pollution that then gets trapped over the metropolitan area as winter air sets in.

Health and Financial Consequences

The economic and health consequences on the roughly thirty-three million inhabitants calling home the Delhi area is substantial, according to multiple studies.

This pollution leads to increased incidence of nervous system, cardiovascular and breathing diseases, and can result in malignancies.

Environmental contamination is estimated to be causing 10,000 premature mortalities per year in Delhi.