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On Tuesday morning citizens of the planet's dirtiest urban center encountered breathing dangerously toxic air that fell into the "critical" range.

Record-Breaking Air Quality Readings

Multiple areas of Delhi showed an AQI above 500, which translates to ten times the safe level set by the World Health Organization.

Certain monitoring stations, levels of PM2.5 and PM10 hit highs of eighteen hundred, amounting to 15 to 20 times exceeding acceptable levels.

Fireworks Ban and Recent Changes

For the past four years, the government had enforced a comprehensive restriction on the distribution and bursting of pyrotechnics during Diwali due to their substantial impact to the dangerous pollution that blankets the metropolis as winter approaches.

Yet in recent months, the current city leadership approached the judicial authority to seek a easing of the ban.

The suggestion was allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – previously questioned by environmental experts as being only approximately one-third reduced emissions – as a balance between "heritage and ecological concerns".

Court Decision and Implementation

Much to the frustration of medical and ecological campaigners, the court approved the appeal, stipulating that eco-friendly pyrotechnics could be set off during specific time windows throughout the celebrations.

Throughout the festival evening, there was considerable flouting of the designated hours across the capital, with little monitoring regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the more environmentally friendly variety.

Many air quality sensors throughout Delhi registered pollution reaching highest levels around late evening to the most severe levels recorded during celebrations in at least recent memory.

Cross-Border Consequences

The widespread use of pyrotechnics during the celebrations also triggered a controversy with adjacent Pakistan, with officials in Pakistan's Punjab partly blaming worsening pollution levels in Lahore on pollutants originating in across the border following the celebrations.

Chronic Environmental Crisis

The dangerously high concentrations of atmospheric toxins in the city have remained as a significant issue for fifteen-plus years, with the condition continuing to worsen.

Around Diwali, the concentration of toxic particles in the air has been documented to increase dramatically to 70% higher the most severe records ever recorded in Beijing, which was formerly regarded as the world's most polluted city.

Multiple Contamination Factors

The problem in the capital is resulting from a convergence of various sources including heavy vehicle emissions, airborne particles, development work, rubbish burning and smoke from farm burning in adjacent states of Punjab and Haryana.

Throughout these areas, farmers routinely set their fields on fire to prepare for next season, creating hazardous pollution that becomes contained over the capital as cooler air descends.

Public Health and Economic Impact

Public health and economic consequences on the roughly thirty-three million inhabitants calling home the capital region is enormous, according to numerous research.

These hazardous conditions leads to increased incidence of nervous system, cardiovascular and lung conditions, and can even lead to cancer.

Environmental contamination is calculated to be causing ten thousand untimely mortalities each year in the capital.