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As Tuesday dawned inhabitants of the planet's dirtiest urban center found themselves breathing extremely polluted air that registered in the "severe" range.

Extremely High Air Quality Levels

Various sections of the city showed an AQI over 500, which equals 10x the recommended threshold recommended by the WHO.

Certain monitoring stations, readings of dangerous airborne particles soared to of 1800, representing 15-20x exceeding acceptable standards.

Firecracker Prohibition and New Developments

For the past four years, authorities had maintained a comprehensive restriction on the purchase and ignition of fireworks during the Festival of Lights due to their substantial impact to the dangerous pollution that engulfs the metropolis as colder weather sets in.

Nevertheless recently, the recently formed city leadership petitioned the supreme court to seek a relaxation of the restrictions.

They proposed allowing "eco-friendly fireworks" – which have been criticized by conservation groups as being only roughly 30 percent reduced emissions – as a middle ground between "heritage and environment".

Court Verdict and Reality

Much to the frustration of public health and environmental campaigners, judicial authorities agreed to the request, specifying that eco-friendly pyrotechnics could be used during designated time windows throughout the Diwali.

Throughout the festival evening, there was considerable violation of the designated hours across the city, with little regulation regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the supposedly greener variety.

Many recording stations throughout Delhi registered pollution spiking around the night hours to extremely hazardous measurements seen during the festival in at least the past three years.

International Implications

The widespread use of firecrackers during the celebrations also triggered a controversy with adjacent the neighboring country, with officials in Pakistani Punjab province partly blaming worsening pollution levels in Lahore on contaminants traveling from India following the events.

Long-Standing Environmental Issue

Alarmingly severe levels of air contamination in the capital have continued as a serious issue for fifteen-plus years, with the problem continuing to worsen.

Around celebratory seasons, the levels of hazardous particles in the environment has been observed to spike to significantly exceeding the worst levels ever recorded in Beijing, which was formerly viewed as the planet's dirtiest urban center.

Multiple Pollution Contributors

The problem in Delhi is caused by a combination of various sources including automobile exhaust, construction debris, development work, waste incineration and pollutants from farm burning in neighbouring areas of Punjab and Haryana.

Within these states, rural residents routinely set their fields on fire to prepare for next season, creating hazardous smog that then gets trapped over the metropolitan area as winter air arrives.

Health and Financial Impact

The economic and health impact on the roughly thirty-three million inhabitants residing in the metropolitan zone is significant, according to multiple research.

These hazardous conditions causes high levels of neurological, cardiovascular and lung conditions, and can result in oncological diseases.

Air quality crisis is calculated to be causing 10,000 premature deaths each year in the city.