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On Tuesday morning citizens of this heavily contaminated metropolis encountered breathing dangerously toxic air that was classified as the "critical" category.

Record-Breaking Air Quality Readings

Several parts of the capital registered an air quality index above 500, which represents 10x the healthy level recommended by the WHO.

Certain monitoring stations, readings of dangerous airborne particles soared to of 1800, equating to 15 to 20 times higher than acceptable standards.

Firecracker Restrictions and Recent Policy Shifts

For the past four years, officials had enforced a total prohibition on the sale and use of pyrotechnics during Diwali due to their major role to the deadly pollution that engulfs the capital as winter approaches.

Nevertheless recently, the current local leadership petitioned the supreme court to propose a easing of the ban.

They proposed allowing "eco-friendly fireworks" – which have been questioned by environmentalists as being only about 30% less polluting – as a balance between "heritage and ecological concerns".

Judicial Ruling and Enforcement

To the disappointment of public health and environmental campaigners, judicial authorities approved the appeal, specifying that eco-friendly pyrotechnics could be ignited during designated periods throughout the Diwali.

During the celebrations, there was widespread flouting of the regulated periods across the metropolis, with insufficient enforcement regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the eco-friendly type.

Several recording stations throughout the city showed pollution peaking around midnight to extremely hazardous readings recorded during Diwali in at least three years.

Cross-Border Consequences

The proliferation of pyrotechnics during the festival also triggered a dispute with bordering Pakistan, with representatives in Pakistani Punjab province partly blaming worsening atmospheric conditions in the city of Lahore on hazardous particles coming from India following the celebrations.

Long-Standing Environmental Issue

Extremely elevated levels of air contamination in the capital have remained as a significant problem for fifteen-plus years, with the condition showing no improvement.

Near Diwali, the levels of toxic particulate matter in the atmosphere has been found to shoot up to 70% higher the peak readings ever measured in Beijing, which was once regarded as the world's most polluted city.

Diverse Pollution Sources

This crisis in the capital is resulting from a mix of different contributors including heavy vehicle emissions, dust, building projects, garbage fires and smoke from agricultural fires in adjacent regions of Punjab and Haryana.

In these regions, agricultural workers illegally burn crop residue to prepare for next season, producing toxic pollution that then gets trapped over the city as winter air arrives.

Medical and Economic Toll

Both financial and medical consequences on the roughly thirty-three million residents residing in the capital region is substantial, according to multiple studies.

The contaminated air causes high levels of neurological, heart and circulatory and breathing conditions, and can potentially cause cancer.

Air quality crisis is calculated to be accounting for 10,000 untimely fatalities annually in the capital.