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Tuesday brought residents of the planet's dirtiest urban center found themselves breathing extremely polluted air that registered in the "critical" level.

Extremely High Air Quality Measurements

Several parts of the city registered an AQI exceeding 500, which represents ten times the healthy limit set by the WHO.

Particular areas, concentrations of toxic particulate matter reached peaks of 1,800, equating to fifteen to twenty times above safe levels.

Firecracker Ban and Current Changes

For the past four years, authorities had implemented a complete ban on the purchase and ignition of pyrotechnics during Diwali due to their major role to the dangerous haze that blankets the city as the cold season begins.

Yet in recent months, the recently formed local leadership petitioned the supreme court to propose a relaxation of the ban.

They proposed allowing "eco-friendly fireworks" – previously questioned by environmental experts as being only approximately one-third reduced emissions – as a balance between "tradition and ecological concerns".

Legal Verdict and Reality

Despite concerns of environmental and health activists, judges agreed to the request, specifying that eco-friendly pyrotechnics could be set off during limited periods throughout the festival.

On Monday night, there was widespread flouting of the time restrictions across the city, with minimal enforcement regarding whether the pyrotechnics being used were actually the supposedly greener variety.

Several air quality sensors throughout Delhi registered air quality spiking around midnight to some of the worst measurements recorded during Diwali in at least the past three years.

International Consequences

Extensive ignition of fireworks during the festival also triggered a dispute with neighbouring Pakistan, with authorities in Pakistan's Punjab pointing to deteriorating atmospheric conditions in Lahore on pollutants coming from India following the festivities.

Persistent Pollution Crisis

The dangerously high levels of air contamination in Delhi have continued as a major problem for over a decade and a half, with the situation gradually deteriorating.

Near celebratory seasons, the concentration of hazardous particles in the air has been documented to spike to significantly exceeding the peak readings ever documented in China's capital, which was previously considered as the globally most contaminated city.

Multiple Contamination Factors

This crisis in the city is resulting from a convergence of multiple factors including automobile exhaust, dust, building projects, rubbish burning and haze from farm burning in adjacent regions of neighboring agricultural zones.

Within these states, agricultural workers routinely burn crop residue to expedite field preparation, producing hazardous haze that then gets trapped over the capital as colder air sets in.

Medical and Economic Toll

Both financial and medical impact on the nearly 33 million people residing in the Delhi area is significant, according to numerous investigations.

This pollution results in increased incidence of neurological, cardiovascular and lung diseases, and can even lead to malignancies.

Environmental contamination is calculated to be responsible for 10,000 premature deaths per year in the capital.