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Tuesday brought residents of this heavily contaminated metropolis found themselves exposed to extremely polluted air that fell into the "severe" category.

Extremely High Pollution Measurements

Several parts of Delhi showed an pollution measurement above 500, which represents ten times the safe limit set by the World Health Organization.

Particular areas, levels of dangerous airborne particles hit highs of 1,800, equating to fifteen to twenty times above healthy standards.

Pyrotechnics Restrictions and Recent Developments

Beginning in 2020, officials had enforced a comprehensive restriction on the distribution and bursting of fireworks during the Festival of Lights due to their substantial impact to the deadly pollution that engulfs the city as winter begins.

Yet earlier this year, the newly elected city leadership petitioned the supreme court to propose a modification of the prohibition.

The suggestion was allowing "green crackers" – previously criticized by environmental experts as being only approximately one-third less polluting – as a balance between "cultural practices and environment".

Judicial Decision and Implementation

Despite concerns of public health and environmental advocates, judges approved the appeal, mandating that eco-friendly pyrotechnics could be used during specific hours throughout the festival.

During the celebrations, there was widespread violation of the designated hours across the metropolis, with little monitoring regarding whether the pyrotechnics being used were actually the supposedly greener variety.

Several monitoring devices throughout the capital registered pollution peaking around the night hours to the most severe measurements recorded during celebrations in at least the past three years.

Cross-Border Effects

Extensive ignition of pyrotechnics during Diwali also initiated a controversy with bordering Pakistan, with representatives in Pakistan's the Punjab region partially attributing deteriorating atmospheric conditions in Lahore on contaminants traveling from across the border following the celebrations.

Long-Standing Pollution Issue

Extremely elevated levels of atmospheric toxins in the city have persisted as a significant issue for over a decade and a half, with the condition continuing to worsen.

Around the festival period, the levels of hazardous particulate matter in the environment has been observed to increase dramatically to seventy percent above the most severe levels ever recorded in the Chinese city, which was formerly regarded as the world's most polluted metropolis.

Diverse Pollution Contributors

This crisis in Delhi is attributed to a combination of different contributors including heavy vehicle emissions, dust, construction activities, rubbish burning and pollutants from crop residue ignition in adjacent areas of neighboring agricultural zones.

In these regions, agricultural workers routinely burn crop residue to clear them quickly, creating hazardous pollution that becomes contained over the city as cooler air arrives.

Public Health and Economic Toll

Both financial and medical impact on the approximately 33 million people residing in the Delhi area is enormous, according to various investigations.

These hazardous conditions leads to elevated rates of nervous system, cardiovascular and respiratory disorders, and can result in cancer.

The pollution is calculated to be accounting for approximately 10k premature mortalities per year in the city.