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Tuesday brought residents of this heavily contaminated metropolis encountered breathing dangerously toxic air that fell into the "alarming" category.

Extremely High Air Quality Readings

Multiple areas of the capital registered an AQI exceeding 500, which translates to a tenfold increase over the healthy level set by the WHO.

Particular areas, concentrations of dangerous airborne particles reached peaks of 1,800, amounting to 15 to 20 times exceeding acceptable levels.

Pyrotechnics Restrictions and Recent Policy Shifts

For the past four years, the government had enforced a total prohibition on the sale and use of fireworks during the Festival of Lights due to their substantial impact to the dangerous pollution that blankets the capital as the cold season sets in.

However in recent months, the newly elected city leadership appealed to the highest court to seek a modification of the restrictions.

The suggestion was allowing "eco-friendly fireworks" – which have been doubted by conservation groups as being only roughly 30 percent reduced emissions – as a compromise between "heritage and environment".

Legal Verdict and Reality

To the disappointment of medical and ecological campaigners, judicial authorities approved the request, specifying that green firecrackers could be ignited during designated periods throughout the celebrations.

During the celebrations, there was extensive disregard of the time restrictions across the capital, with little monitoring regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the eco-friendly version.

Many air quality sensors throughout the city recorded contamination reaching highest levels around the night hours to the most severe readings seen during Diwali in at least recent memory.

Regional Consequences

The widespread use of pyrotechnics during the festival also sparked a controversy with bordering the neighboring country, with officials in Pakistani Punjab partly blaming declining air quality in their urban centers on pollutants traveling from across the border following the events.

Persistent Pollution Problem

The dangerously high readings of air contamination in Delhi have persisted as a serious issue for fifteen-plus years, with the situation showing no improvement.

During celebratory seasons, the levels of toxic particulate matter in the air has been observed to shoot up to significantly exceeding the worst levels ever recorded in China's capital, which was previously viewed as the world's most polluted urban center.

Diverse Contamination Sources

The problem in Delhi is resulting from a mix of different contributors including heavy vehicle emissions, dust, development work, waste incineration and smoke from farm burning in adjacent states of farming communities.

In these regions, farmers regularly ignite agricultural waste to expedite field preparation, generating hazardous haze that becomes contained over the city as winter air sets in.

Medical and Financial Toll

Both financial and medical impact on the approximately 33 million residents calling home the metropolitan zone is substantial, according to numerous research.

These hazardous conditions causes high levels of neurological, cardiovascular and breathing diseases, and can even lead to malignancies.

Air quality crisis is projected to be causing ten thousand untimely fatalities annually in the capital.