🔗 Share this article

Tuesday brought citizens of the planet's dirtiest urban center found themselves breathing extremely polluted air that was classified as the "severe" level.

Record-Breaking Pollution Readings

Various sections of the capital showed an pollution measurement over 500, which translates to ten times the healthy level established by the World Health Organization.

Particular areas, concentrations of toxic particulate matter hit highs of 1,800, representing fifteen to twenty times exceeding safe levels.

Firecracker Restrictions and New Policy Shifts

For the past four years, officials had enforced a complete ban on the distribution and bursting of pyrotechnics during Diwali due to their major role to the deadly smog that blankets the metropolis as winter begins.

Yet earlier this year, the current regional leadership petitioned the highest court to request a relaxation of the restrictions.

They proposed allowing "green crackers" – previously doubted by environmentalists as being only roughly 30 percent lower impact – as a middle ground between "tradition and ecological concerns".

Judicial Verdict and Implementation

Despite concerns of environmental and health advocates, the court approved the proposal, mandating that environmentally conscious fireworks could be ignited during limited hours throughout the celebrations.

On Monday night, there was extensive disregard of the regulated periods across the capital, with insufficient regulation regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the more environmentally friendly version.

Many monitoring devices throughout the capital registered pollution peaking around the night hours to some of the worst readings seen during celebrations in at least the past three years.

Regional Consequences

Extensive ignition of pyrotechnics during the festival also sparked a controversy with neighbouring Pakistan, with authorities in Pakistan's Punjab province partially attributing deteriorating pollution levels in Lahore on hazardous particles coming from India following the events.

Long-Standing Pollution Problem

Extremely elevated concentrations of air contamination in Delhi have continued as a major problem for over a decade and a half, with the condition gradually deteriorating.

During celebratory seasons, the levels of hazardous particles in the environment has been observed to shoot up to significantly exceeding the worst levels ever measured in Beijing, which was once regarded as the globally most contaminated metropolis.

Various Contamination Factors

This crisis in Delhi is caused by a convergence of different contributors including transportation pollution, dust, construction activities, garbage fires and pollutants from crop residue ignition in neighbouring states of farming communities.

Within these states, rural residents regularly burn crop residue to clear them quickly, creating toxic pollution that becomes contained over the capital as winter air arrives.

Health and Financial Toll

The economic and health toll on the nearly 33 million inhabitants calling home the metropolitan zone is enormous, according to multiple studies.

This pollution results in increased incidence of neurological, cardiovascular and breathing conditions, and can potentially cause cancer.

Environmental contamination is projected to be responsible for 10,000 untimely fatalities each year in the city.