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As Tuesday dawned inhabitants of the world's most polluted city encountered breathing dangerously toxic air that registered in the "alarming" level.

Alarming Air Quality Levels

Various sections of Delhi showed an air quality index above 500, which translates to ten times the healthy threshold established by the World Health Organization.

In some locations, concentrations of dangerous airborne particles soared to of 1800, equating to 15-20x above safe standards.

Pyrotechnics Restrictions and New Changes

For the past four years, the government had maintained a complete ban on the distribution and bursting of pyrotechnics during celebrations due to their significant contribution to the hazardous smog that covers the metropolis as the cold season sets in.

Yet recently, the newly elected city administration petitioned the supreme court to seek a relaxation of the restrictions.

They proposed allowing "eco-friendly fireworks" – which have been questioned by conservation groups as being only approximately one-third lower impact – as a balance between "tradition and environment".

Legal Ruling and Reality

Despite concerns of environmental and health advocates, judicial authorities complied with the proposal, mandating that green firecrackers could be set off during designated time windows throughout the Diwali.

During the celebrations, there was extensive disregard of the designated hours across the city, with little regulation regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the supposedly greener variety.

Many monitoring devices throughout the capital showed contamination reaching highest levels around the night hours to extremely hazardous readings recorded during Diwali in at least three years.

Regional Effects

Extensive ignition of fireworks during the celebrations also sparked a controversy with adjacent Pakistan, with officials in Pakistan's Punjab pointing to declining atmospheric conditions in their urban centers on hazardous particles traveling from India following the festivities.

Chronic Environmental Issue

Extremely elevated levels of atmospheric toxins in the capital have remained as a serious issue for over a decade and a half, with the problem gradually deteriorating.

Around celebratory seasons, the concentration of dangerous particulate matter in the environment has been found to shoot up to 70% higher the most severe records ever measured in the Chinese city, which was formerly viewed as the world's most polluted urban center.

Various Pollution Factors

The problem in Delhi is attributed to a combination of various sources including automobile exhaust, airborne particles, development work, garbage fires and haze from agricultural fires in nearby states of neighboring agricultural zones.

Throughout these areas, agricultural workers regularly ignite agricultural waste to clear them quickly, creating hazardous smog that remains stagnant over the capital as cooler air arrives.

Public Health and Economic Toll

Both financial and medical impact on the roughly thirty-three million people residing in the capital region is substantial, according to multiple research.

The contaminated air results in increased incidence of neurological, cardiovascular and breathing diseases, and can result in oncological diseases.

Air quality crisis is calculated to be accounting for 10,000 early fatalities each year in the city.