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

Alarming Air Quality Levels

Multiple areas of the capital recorded an AQI over 500, which represents 10x the recommended threshold set by the World Health Organization.

Certain monitoring stations, readings of toxic particulate matter soared to of eighteen hundred, amounting to 15 to 20 times exceeding healthy limits.

Fireworks Restrictions and Recent Policy Shifts

For the past four years, authorities had maintained a comprehensive restriction on the purchase and ignition of pyrotechnics during the Festival of Lights due to their substantial impact to the dangerous smog that engulfs the city as colder weather approaches.

Yet in recent months, the current city leadership appealed to the supreme court to request a easing of the restrictions.

The suggestion was allowing "eco-friendly fireworks" – which have been criticized by environmental experts as being only approximately one-third lower impact – as a balance between "cultural practices and ecological concerns".

Legal Verdict and Reality

To the disappointment of public health and environmental activists, the court approved the appeal, mandating that eco-friendly pyrotechnics could be set off during specific periods throughout the Diwali.

Throughout the festival evening, there was widespread disregard of the regulated periods across the city, with insufficient regulation regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the more environmentally friendly variety.

Several monitoring devices throughout Delhi showed pollution spiking around midnight to extremely hazardous levels seen during celebrations in at least the past three years.

Regional Effects

The widespread use of firecrackers during the celebrations also triggered a dispute with neighbouring Pakistan, with authorities in Pakistan's Punjab partly blaming deteriorating atmospheric conditions in the city of Lahore on pollutants coming from neighboring India following the celebrations.

Long-Standing Environmental Problem

The dangerously high readings of air contamination in Delhi have persisted as a serious issue for over a decade and a half, with the situation showing no improvement.

Around celebratory seasons, the amount of hazardous particulate matter in the atmosphere has been documented to shoot up to significantly exceeding the peak readings ever measured in Beijing, which was previously considered as the planet's dirtiest urban center.

Various Contamination Sources

The situation in Delhi is resulting from a convergence of multiple factors including transportation pollution, dust, construction activities, waste incineration and pollutants from crop residue ignition in nearby areas of Punjab and Haryana.

In these regions, agricultural workers regularly burn crop residue to prepare for next season, producing hazardous haze that remains stagnant over the metropolitan area as winter air arrives.

Health and Financial Toll

Both financial and medical impact on the approximately 33 million people living in the metropolitan zone is significant, according to various studies.

This pollution results in elevated rates of neurological, heart and circulatory and lung diseases, and can result in oncological diseases.

Environmental contamination is projected to be causing approximately 10k early deaths annually in the capital.