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Tuesday brought citizens of the planet's dirtiest urban center encountered breathing dangerously toxic air that fell into the "severe" category.

Alarming Air Quality Readings

Several parts of the capital recorded an air quality index over 500, which translates to 10x the healthy level recommended by the global health authority.

Particular areas, levels of dangerous airborne particles soared to of 1,800, amounting to 15 to 20 times above safe levels.

Firecracker Ban and Recent Developments

For the past four years, officials had maintained a total prohibition on the sale and use of fireworks during the Festival of Lights due to their substantial impact to the dangerous pollution that covers the city as the cold season sets in.

Nevertheless recently, the recently formed local administration appealed to the supreme court to seek a modification of the prohibition.

They proposed allowing "eco-friendly fireworks" – which have been doubted by environmental experts as being only about 30% reduced emissions – as a balance between "heritage and ecological concerns".

Judicial Verdict and Reality

Despite concerns of medical and ecological activists, judicial authorities approved the request, specifying that green firecrackers could be used during specific hours throughout the Diwali.

During the celebrations, there was extensive flouting of the designated hours across the metropolis, with insufficient regulation regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the eco-friendly version.

Many recording stations throughout Delhi recorded pollution reaching highest levels around the night hours to the most severe readings observed during the festival in at least recent memory.

Regional Implications

The proliferation of pyrotechnics during the celebrations also sparked a controversy with bordering the neighboring country, with authorities in Pakistani the Punjab region pointing to worsening air quality in Lahore on contaminants coming from India following the celebrations.

Persistent Environmental Problem

Alarmingly severe concentrations of pollution in Delhi have remained as a serious issue for fifteen-plus years, with the condition gradually deteriorating.

Around celebratory seasons, the levels of dangerous particulate matter in the air has been documented to increase dramatically to seventy percent above the most severe records ever recorded in Beijing, which was previously considered as the world's most polluted metropolis.

Diverse Contamination Factors

The problem in the capital is caused by a combination of various sources including transportation pollution, dust, construction activities, waste incineration and smoke from agricultural fires in adjacent areas of farming communities.

In these regions, farmers routinely burn crop residue to expedite field preparation, creating toxic smog that then gets trapped over the metropolitan area as colder air sets in.

Public Health and Economic Impact

Both financial and medical toll on the nearly 33 million people living in the metropolitan zone is enormous, according to multiple investigations.

The contaminated air causes increased incidence of nervous system, heart and circulatory and breathing disorders, and can even lead to malignancies.

Air quality crisis is estimated to be responsible for 10,000 untimely fatalities each year in Delhi.