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As Tuesday dawned citizens of the world's most polluted city found themselves exposed to severely hazardous air that fell into the "severe" category.

Alarming Air Quality Readings

Various sections of the city recorded an AQI exceeding 500, which equals 10x the safe limit established by the WHO.

Particular areas, readings of dangerous airborne particles hit highs of eighteen hundred, representing 15-20x above healthy standards.

Pyrotechnics Ban and Recent Changes

For the past four years, the government had enforced a comprehensive restriction on the purchase and ignition of firecrackers during Diwali due to their major role to the deadly haze that engulfs the capital as colder weather begins.

Nevertheless earlier this year, the newly elected local leadership petitioned the judicial authority to request a modification of the prohibition.

The suggestion was allowing "green crackers" – previously doubted by environmental experts as being only about 30% lower impact – as a compromise between "heritage and ecological concerns".

Legal Verdict and Implementation

Despite concerns of environmental and health activists, judicial authorities complied with the appeal, stipulating that eco-friendly pyrotechnics could be ignited during specific hours throughout the Diwali.

On Monday night, there was extensive flouting of the designated hours across the capital, with little enforcement regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the supposedly greener version.

Several air quality sensors throughout the city showed contamination spiking around midnight to some of the worst measurements seen during the festival in at least the past three years.

International Effects

The proliferation of firecrackers during the festival also sparked a blame game with bordering Pakistan, with representatives in Pakistani Punjab partially attributing declining atmospheric conditions in the city of Lahore on pollutants originating in India following the celebrations.

Long-Standing Pollution Issue

Alarmingly severe levels of pollution in the capital have continued as a major challenge for fifteen-plus years, with the situation continuing to worsen.

During the festival period, the concentration of toxic airborne contaminants in the air has been observed to shoot up to 70% higher the most severe readings ever recorded in China's capital, which was previously viewed as the globally most contaminated metropolis.

Multiple Pollution Factors

The situation in the city is resulting from a combination of different contributors including automobile exhaust, airborne particles, construction activities, waste incineration and smoke from crop residue ignition in adjacent states of neighboring agricultural zones.

In these regions, rural residents routinely ignite agricultural waste to clear them quickly, creating toxic smog that then gets trapped over the capital as colder air arrives.

Health and Economic Toll

Both financial and medical impact on the roughly thirty-three million residents residing in the metropolitan zone is substantial, according to numerous research.

This pollution leads to high levels of neurological, cardiovascular and breathing conditions, and can result in cancer.

The pollution is estimated to be causing ten thousand untimely fatalities annually in the city.