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On Tuesday morning citizens of the planet's dirtiest urban center encountered breathing severely hazardous air that fell into the "critical" range.

Extremely High Air Quality Readings

Several parts of the capital recorded an air quality index exceeding 500, which represents 10x the healthy limit recommended by the World Health Organization.

Particular areas, concentrations of toxic particulate matter hit highs of 1800, amounting to 15-20x higher than healthy levels.

Pyrotechnics Prohibition and Recent Developments

For the past four years, authorities had enforced a complete ban on the sale and use of firecrackers during Diwali due to their major role to the deadly pollution that blankets the capital as winter approaches.

Nevertheless recently, the newly elected city leadership petitioned the supreme court to propose a relaxation of the restrictions.

They proposed allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – previously criticized by environmentalists as being only about 30% lower impact – as a middle ground between "cultural practices and environment".

Legal Verdict and Enforcement

Despite concerns of environmental and health activists, judicial authorities complied with the proposal, specifying that green firecrackers could be ignited during designated periods throughout the celebrations.

On Monday night, there was extensive flouting of the time restrictions across the city, with little monitoring regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the supposedly greener type.

Several monitoring devices throughout the capital showed pollution spiking around late evening to some of the worst readings observed during celebrations in at least three years.

International Consequences

The proliferation of pyrotechnics during Diwali also sparked a controversy with bordering the neighboring country, with officials in Pakistani Punjab province pointing to declining air quality in their urban centers on contaminants originating in India following the festivities.

Chronic Environmental Crisis

The dangerously high levels of air contamination in Delhi have continued as a major problem for more than 15 years, with the situation continuing to worsen.

Around Diwali, the amount of dangerous particulate matter in the environment has been found to spike to 70% higher the most severe levels ever documented in China's capital, which was once considered as the planet's dirtiest urban center.

Diverse Contamination Contributors

This crisis in the city is resulting from a combination of different contributors including automobile exhaust, airborne particles, development work, waste incineration and smoke from agricultural fires in nearby regions of farming communities.

In these regions, rural residents regularly ignite agricultural waste to prepare for next season, generating toxic smog that then gets trapped over the metropolitan area as winter air sets in.

Public Health and Financial Impact

Both financial and medical toll on the roughly thirty-three million people calling home the Delhi area is enormous, according to various research.

The contaminated air causes high levels of neurological, heart and circulatory and lung disorders, and can even lead to oncological diseases.

Air quality crisis is projected to be causing ten thousand early mortalities per year in the capital.