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As Tuesday dawned residents of the world's most polluted city were faced with inhaling extremely polluted air that fell into the "severe" range.

Alarming Pollution Measurements

Multiple areas of the city recorded an pollution measurement over 500, which equals ten times the healthy threshold set by the global health authority.

In some locations, levels of PM2.5 and PM10 hit highs of eighteen hundred, representing 15 to 20 times exceeding safe levels.

Firecracker Ban and Recent Policy Shifts

For the past four years, authorities had maintained a total prohibition on the purchase and ignition of pyrotechnics during the Festival of Lights due to their major role to the dangerous haze that covers the capital as the cold season begins.

However earlier this year, the recently formed city leadership approached the supreme court to request a easing of the restrictions.

Officials advocated for allowing "green crackers" – historically criticized by environmental experts as being only approximately one-third lower impact – as a compromise between "cultural practices and ecological concerns".

Judicial Verdict and Implementation

Despite concerns of medical and ecological campaigners, judges complied with the appeal, specifying that eco-friendly pyrotechnics could be set off during specific hours throughout the Diwali.

During the celebrations, there was considerable flouting of the time restrictions across the city, with insufficient enforcement regarding whether the pyrotechnics being used were actually the supposedly greener type.

Many recording stations throughout Delhi recorded pollution reaching highest levels around the night hours to extremely hazardous measurements observed during Diwali in at least the past three years.

Cross-Border Consequences

Extensive ignition of pyrotechnics during the festival also triggered a dispute with bordering the neighboring country, with representatives in Pakistan's the Punjab region pointing to deteriorating atmospheric conditions in the city of Lahore on hazardous particles originating in neighboring India following the events.

Long-Standing Environmental Crisis

Alarmingly severe concentrations of pollution in Delhi have remained as a major problem for fifteen-plus years, with the problem continuing to worsen.

Around celebratory seasons, the concentration of toxic airborne contaminants in the atmosphere has been observed to shoot up to seventy percent above the most severe levels ever recorded in China's capital, which was formerly regarded as the planet's dirtiest city.

Diverse Pollution Sources

The situation in the capital is caused by a combination of different contributors including heavy vehicle emissions, dust, development work, garbage fires and pollutants from agricultural fires in adjacent areas of farming communities.

Throughout these areas, agricultural workers routinely ignite agricultural waste to clear them quickly, generating toxic smog that then gets trapped over the capital as colder air sets in.

Medical and Financial Toll

Both financial and medical consequences on the roughly thirty-three million residents calling home the Delhi area is significant, according to various studies.

These hazardous conditions results in high levels of neurological, cardiovascular and lung diseases, and can potentially cause malignancies.

The pollution is calculated to be causing approximately 10k early fatalities annually in the capital.