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As Tuesday dawned residents of the world's most polluted city were faced with inhaling dangerously toxic air that registered in the "critical" level.

Alarming Air Quality Readings

Various sections of the city registered an air quality index above 500, which equals a tenfold increase over the healthy level set by the World Health Organization.

Certain monitoring stations, readings of PM2.5 and PM10 soared to of 1,800, equating to 15-20x exceeding safe standards.

Pyrotechnics Prohibition and New Developments

For the past four years, officials had enforced a complete ban on the purchase and ignition of fireworks during the Festival of Lights due to their major role to the deadly haze that blankets the capital as winter begins.

Yet in recent months, the current regional administration petitioned the supreme court to seek a modification of the restrictions.

The suggestion was allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – historically criticized by conservation groups as being only roughly 30 percent less polluting – as a balance between "cultural practices and public health".

Judicial Verdict and Implementation

Despite concerns of public health and environmental campaigners, the court agreed to the proposal, specifying that environmentally conscious fireworks could be ignited during specific time windows throughout the celebrations.

During the celebrations, there was considerable violation of the regulated periods across the metropolis, with little regulation regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the eco-friendly type.

Many recording stations throughout Delhi registered pollution peaking around late evening to the most severe levels observed during celebrations in at least recent memory.

Regional Effects

The proliferation of fireworks during the celebrations also triggered a blame game with adjacent the neighboring country, with representatives in Pakistani Punjab province partly blaming declining atmospheric conditions in the city of Lahore on pollutants coming from neighboring India following the events.

Long-Standing Environmental Problem

Extremely elevated readings of atmospheric toxins in the capital have continued as a serious challenge for more than 15 years, with the situation showing no improvement.

Near the festival period, the concentration of hazardous airborne contaminants in the atmosphere has been found to increase dramatically to seventy percent above the worst levels ever measured in China's capital, which was previously regarded as the world's most polluted urban center.

Various Pollution Sources

This crisis in the city is caused by a mix of different contributors including automobile exhaust, construction debris, construction activities, waste incineration and haze from crop residue ignition in neighbouring areas of farming communities.

Throughout these areas, agricultural workers routinely set their fields on fire to expedite field preparation, creating dangerous pollution that remains stagnant over the capital as colder air arrives.

Public Health and Economic Impact

Both financial and medical impact on the roughly thirty-three million residents living in the metropolitan zone is substantial, according to various studies.

This pollution leads to elevated rates of neurological, heart and circulatory and breathing conditions, and can even lead to malignancies.

Environmental contamination is projected to be responsible for ten thousand premature deaths per year in Delhi.