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As Tuesday dawned citizens of the planet's dirtiest urban center found themselves breathing extremely polluted air that fell into the "severe" range.

Record-Breaking Pollution Measurements

Multiple areas of the capital registered an AQI over 500, which equals a tenfold increase over the recommended level established by the World Health Organization.

Particular areas, levels of dangerous airborne particles hit highs of 1,800, amounting to 15 to 20 times exceeding acceptable standards.

Firecracker Prohibition and Recent Policy Shifts

For the past four years, authorities had enforced a comprehensive restriction on the sale and use of pyrotechnics during celebrations due to their major role to the dangerous pollution that engulfs the city as colder weather sets in.

Nevertheless in recent months, the recently formed regional administration approached the highest court to request a easing of the restrictions.

The suggestion was allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – which have been criticized by environmentalists as being only about 30% less polluting – as a middle ground between "heritage and environment".

Court Decision and Implementation

To the disappointment of medical and ecological campaigners, the court complied with the appeal, stipulating that environmentally conscious fireworks could be set off during designated time windows throughout the Diwali.

During the celebrations, there was extensive violation of the regulated periods across the city, with insufficient enforcement regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the eco-friendly version.

Numerous monitoring devices throughout the capital registered air quality reaching highest levels around late evening to extremely hazardous readings observed during the festival in at least three years.

Cross-Border Effects

The proliferation of pyrotechnics during the festival also sparked a controversy with adjacent the neighboring country, with authorities in Pakistan's Punjab partly blaming worsening pollution levels in their urban centers on pollutants originating in neighboring India following the celebrations.

Persistent Environmental Crisis

The dangerously high levels of air contamination in Delhi have continued as a major issue for fifteen-plus years, with the problem showing no improvement.

Near the festival period, the levels of hazardous particles in the environment has been observed to increase dramatically to significantly exceeding the peak records ever documented in Beijing, which was formerly considered as the world's most polluted urban center.

Various Contamination Contributors

This crisis in the capital is caused by a combination of multiple factors including automobile exhaust, construction debris, building projects, waste incineration and smoke from agricultural fires in neighbouring regions of farming communities.

Within these states, farmers routinely set their fields on fire to clear them quickly, generating hazardous pollution that then gets trapped over the city as winter air descends.

Health and Financial Toll

Both financial and medical toll on the approximately 33 million residents calling home the metropolitan zone is substantial, according to various studies.

This pollution leads to elevated rates of nervous system, cardiovascular and lung disorders, and can even lead to malignancies.

Environmental contamination is projected to be accounting for 10,000 untimely deaths annually in Delhi.