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On Tuesday morning inhabitants of the world's most polluted city found themselves inhaling extremely polluted air that fell into the "alarming" category.

Record-Breaking Air Quality Readings

Multiple areas of the city recorded an AQI exceeding 500, which equals a tenfold increase over the safe threshold recommended by the global health authority.

Certain monitoring stations, levels of toxic particulate matter hit highs of eighteen hundred, representing fifteen to twenty times higher than safe standards.

Pyrotechnics Prohibition and Recent Changes

For the past four years, the government had maintained a comprehensive restriction on the sale and use of pyrotechnics during Diwali due to their major role to the deadly smog that blankets the metropolis as winter begins.

Yet earlier this year, the newly elected city administration approached the supreme court to request a relaxation of the restrictions.

Officials advocated for allowing "eco-friendly fireworks" – previously criticized by environmental experts as being only about 30% less polluting – as a middle ground between "tradition and environment".

Legal Decision and Reality

Much to the frustration of medical and ecological campaigners, judges approved the proposal, stipulating that green firecrackers could be used during limited hours throughout the festival.

On Monday night, there was widespread flouting of the designated hours across the capital, with insufficient regulation regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the more environmentally friendly type.

Many air quality sensors throughout the city registered air quality spiking around late evening to some of the worst levels observed during Diwali in at least three years.

International Effects

Extensive ignition of firecrackers during the festival also sparked a blame game with adjacent the neighboring country, with officials in Pakistan's the Punjab region pointing to deteriorating pollution levels in their urban centers on pollutants traveling from India following the celebrations.

Persistent Environmental Problem

The dangerously high readings of atmospheric toxins in Delhi have continued as a major issue for over a decade and a half, with the problem showing no improvement.

Around celebratory seasons, the amount of dangerous airborne contaminants in the atmosphere has been found to increase dramatically to 70% higher the peak readings ever documented in the Chinese city, which was once regarded as the world's most polluted metropolis.

Diverse Pollution Contributors

The problem in the city is attributed to a combination of various sources including automobile exhaust, dust, development work, garbage fires and pollutants from crop residue ignition in adjacent states of farming communities.

Throughout these areas, farmers routinely ignite agricultural waste to prepare for next season, creating toxic smog that becomes contained over the capital as colder air descends.

Public Health and Financial Impact

Public health and economic impact on the roughly thirty-three million inhabitants living in the Delhi area is enormous, according to multiple research.

These hazardous conditions results in increased incidence of nervous system, cardiovascular and lung diseases, and can result in malignancies.

The pollution is projected to be accounting for approximately 10k premature mortalities per year in the city.