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Tuesday brought residents of the planet's dirtiest urban center encountered breathing severely hazardous air that registered in the "alarming" category.

Alarming Air Quality Readings

Several parts of Delhi recorded an AQI above 500, which equals 10x the healthy threshold set by the WHO.

Particular areas, levels of dangerous airborne particles reached peaks of 1,800, equating to 15-20x above acceptable limits.

Fireworks Ban and Current Policy Shifts

For the past four years, officials had implemented a complete ban on the distribution and bursting of pyrotechnics during Diwali due to their major role to the deadly haze that blankets the metropolis as winter begins.

However earlier this year, the recently formed city leadership petitioned the judicial authority to request a modification of the ban.

The suggestion was allowing "eco-friendly fireworks" – historically questioned by environmentalists as being only about 30% less polluting – as a middle ground between "heritage and ecological concerns".

Judicial Ruling and Reality

Despite concerns of public health and environmental campaigners, judges approved the proposal, stipulating that green firecrackers could be used during specific periods throughout the festival.

During the celebrations, there was extensive violation of the designated hours across the metropolis, with insufficient monitoring regarding whether the pyrotechnics being used were actually the eco-friendly version.

Numerous monitoring devices throughout Delhi recorded air quality peaking around late evening to some of the worst levels recorded during the festival in at least the past three years.

International Effects

The widespread use of firecrackers during the celebrations also sparked a controversy with adjacent Pakistan, with representatives in Pakistani Punjab province partially attributing deteriorating pollution levels in their urban centers on pollutants coming from across the border following the events.

Long-Standing Environmental Crisis

Extremely elevated levels of pollution in the city have persisted as a major problem for over a decade and a half, with the condition continuing to worsen.

Around the festival period, the amount of hazardous particulate matter in the environment has been observed to increase dramatically to seventy percent above the most severe records ever measured in China's capital, which was once considered as the planet's dirtiest metropolis.

Diverse Pollution Sources

The situation in Delhi is attributed to a mix of multiple factors including heavy vehicle emissions, airborne particles, construction activities, waste incineration and haze from farm burning in neighbouring areas of Punjab and Haryana.

In these regions, rural residents illegally set their fields on fire to expedite field preparation, generating toxic haze that remains stagnant over the metropolitan area as colder air sets in.

Medical and Economic Impact

The economic and health toll on the nearly 33 million residents residing in the Delhi area is significant, according to numerous studies.

This pollution results in increased incidence of neurological, heart and circulatory and lung disorders, and can potentially cause oncological diseases.

Environmental contamination is calculated to be responsible for approximately 10k early fatalities each year in the capital.