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Tuesday brought residents of the world's most polluted city encountered breathing severely hazardous air that registered in the "alarming" range.

Alarming Pollution Readings

Various sections of Delhi registered an pollution measurement above 500, which represents ten times the healthy level set by the WHO.

In some locations, levels of dangerous airborne particles reached peaks of 1,800, representing 15-20x exceeding safe limits.

Fireworks Ban and Recent Changes

For the past four years, the government had implemented a complete ban on the sale and use of firecrackers during celebrations due to their substantial impact to the deadly haze that blankets the metropolis as the cold season approaches.

Yet in recent months, the newly elected city administration petitioned the supreme court to seek a modification of the restrictions.

They proposed allowing "eco-friendly fireworks" – previously doubted by conservation groups as being only roughly 30 percent reduced emissions – as a balance between "heritage and environment".

Judicial Ruling and Reality

Despite concerns of medical and ecological advocates, judges approved the request, mandating that environmentally conscious fireworks could be set off during designated time windows throughout the festival.

During the celebrations, there was considerable flouting of the regulated periods across the metropolis, with minimal regulation regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the supposedly greener type.

Many recording stations throughout the capital registered pollution spiking around midnight to the most severe measurements recorded during the festival in at least the past three years.

Cross-Border Implications

Extensive ignition of fireworks during the festival also sparked a blame game with adjacent the neighboring country, with officials in Pakistan's Punjab province partially attributing declining air quality in their urban centers on hazardous particles traveling from across the border following the celebrations.

Long-Standing Environmental Problem

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

Near Diwali, the amount of dangerous airborne contaminants in the air has been documented to increase dramatically to significantly exceeding the peak levels ever documented in China's capital, which was previously regarded as the globally most contaminated city.

Various Pollution Sources

The problem in the capital is attributed to a combination of various sources including heavy vehicle emissions, airborne particles, development work, garbage fires and smoke from crop residue ignition in nearby regions of neighboring agricultural zones.

In these regions, rural residents illegally ignite agricultural waste to prepare for next season, generating hazardous smog that remains stagnant over the city as winter air descends.

Medical and Financial Impact

The economic and health consequences on the approximately 33 million people living in the metropolitan zone is substantial, according to numerous investigations.

These hazardous conditions causes increased incidence of nervous system, heart and circulatory and lung disorders, and can potentially cause malignancies.

The pollution is projected to be causing approximately 10k untimely mortalities each year in the city.