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On Tuesday morning citizens of the planet's dirtiest urban center were faced with breathing severely hazardous air that was classified as the "severe" level.

Extremely High Pollution Measurements

Several parts of Delhi recorded an air quality index exceeding 500, which translates to 10x the healthy limit established by the global health authority.

Certain monitoring stations, concentrations of toxic particulate matter reached peaks of eighteen hundred, equating to fifteen to twenty times above acceptable limits.

Pyrotechnics Ban and New Changes

For the past four years, officials had maintained a complete ban on the sale and use of fireworks during the Festival of Lights due to their major role to the hazardous pollution that engulfs the city as the cold season begins.

However in recent months, the newly elected city leadership petitioned the judicial authority to seek a modification of the prohibition.

Officials advocated for allowing "green crackers" – historically questioned by conservation groups as being only roughly 30 percent lower impact – as a middle ground between "heritage and ecological concerns".

Legal Decision and Implementation

To the disappointment of public health and environmental advocates, judicial authorities approved the request, specifying that eco-friendly pyrotechnics could be ignited during limited time windows throughout the festival.

On Monday night, there was considerable flouting of the time restrictions across the city, with insufficient enforcement regarding whether the pyrotechnics being used were actually the eco-friendly version.

Numerous monitoring devices throughout the city registered contamination peaking around the night hours to some of the worst measurements seen during Diwali in at least three years.

International Effects

The widespread use of fireworks during Diwali also triggered a dispute with bordering Pakistan, with representatives in Pakistan's the Punjab region partly blaming deteriorating pollution levels in the city of Lahore on hazardous particles originating in neighboring India following the celebrations.

Chronic Pollution Issue

The dangerously high concentrations of atmospheric toxins in the capital have persisted as a major issue for more than 15 years, with the problem showing no improvement.

Near Diwali, the amount of hazardous particles in the environment has been documented to spike to seventy percent above the worst readings ever measured in China's capital, which was formerly viewed as the globally most contaminated urban center.

Various Pollution Factors

This crisis in the city is resulting from a combination of multiple factors including automobile exhaust, dust, construction activities, garbage fires and pollutants from agricultural fires in adjacent states of farming communities.

In these regions, rural residents routinely set their fields on fire to prepare for next season, producing dangerous smog that then gets trapped over the metropolitan area as cooler air descends.

Health and Financial Toll

The economic and health consequences on the approximately 33 million inhabitants residing in the metropolitan zone is significant, according to multiple studies.

The contaminated air results in increased incidence of nervous system, heart and circulatory and lung conditions, and can potentially cause malignancies.

The pollution is estimated to be causing 10,000 untimely mortalities per year in the capital.