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As Tuesday dawned residents of the planet's dirtiest urban center found themselves inhaling severely hazardous air that registered in the "severe" level.

Record-Breaking Pollution Measurements

Various sections of the city recorded an AQI above 500, which equals ten times the recommended threshold established by the WHO.

Particular areas, concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 hit highs of 1800, equating to 15 to 20 times above acceptable standards.

Firecracker Restrictions and New Changes

For the past four years, officials had maintained a complete ban on the distribution and bursting of fireworks during Diwali due to their major role to the dangerous pollution that blankets the capital as winter approaches.

However earlier this year, the recently formed regional leadership appealed to the highest court to request a relaxation of the restrictions.

Officials advocated for allowing "eco-friendly fireworks" – historically questioned by environmental experts as being only approximately one-third reduced emissions – as a middle ground between "heritage and environment".

Judicial Decision and Reality

Despite concerns of environmental and health activists, judicial authorities agreed to the proposal, stipulating that eco-friendly pyrotechnics could be ignited during specific time windows throughout the festival.

During the celebrations, there was widespread flouting of the regulated periods across the metropolis, with little enforcement regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the eco-friendly variety.

Several monitoring devices throughout the city registered pollution peaking around midnight to the most severe readings seen during celebrations in at least three years.

Regional Effects

The widespread use of fireworks during the festival also triggered a blame game with adjacent Pakistan, with officials in Pakistan's Punjab province pointing to deteriorating pollution levels in the city of Lahore on hazardous particles coming from India following the celebrations.

Long-Standing Environmental Issue

Alarmingly severe levels of atmospheric toxins in Delhi have remained as a serious problem for fifteen-plus years, with the situation gradually deteriorating.

Near celebratory seasons, the levels of dangerous particles in the environment has been documented to spike to significantly exceeding the worst readings ever measured in China's capital, which was once viewed as the planet's dirtiest city.

Diverse Contamination Sources

This crisis in the capital is resulting from a combination of multiple factors including automobile exhaust, airborne particles, development work, rubbish burning and haze from farm burning in neighbouring areas of farming communities.

In these regions, farmers routinely ignite agricultural waste to expedite field preparation, generating toxic haze that becomes contained over the metropolitan area as colder air sets in.

Health and Economic Consequences

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

The contaminated air leads to increased incidence of nervous system, cardiovascular and lung diseases, and can potentially cause malignancies.

Air quality crisis is calculated to be accounting for 10,000 premature mortalities each year in the city.