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As Tuesday dawned inhabitants of this heavily contaminated metropolis found themselves breathing extremely polluted air that was classified as the "alarming" level.

Extremely High Air Quality Readings

Several parts of the capital registered an AQI exceeding 500, which translates to ten times the healthy threshold set by the World Health Organization.

Certain monitoring stations, concentrations of dangerous airborne particles hit highs of eighteen hundred, equating to 15-20x above safe limits.

Firecracker Ban and Current Policy Shifts

For the past four years, authorities had enforced a comprehensive restriction on the purchase and ignition of fireworks during celebrations due to their major role to the hazardous pollution that engulfs the capital as the cold season sets in.

Yet earlier this year, the newly elected local government approached the highest court to seek a relaxation of the restrictions.

They proposed allowing "eco-friendly fireworks" – which have been questioned by environmentalists as being only about 30% lower impact – as a compromise between "tradition and environment".

Legal Decision and Reality

To the disappointment of medical and ecological advocates, judicial authorities approved the proposal, mandating that green firecrackers could be used during limited periods throughout the Diwali.

On Monday night, there was considerable flouting of the designated hours across the metropolis, with little enforcement regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the more environmentally friendly type.

Many recording stations throughout the city showed contamination spiking around the night hours to extremely hazardous levels seen during Diwali in at least recent memory.

Cross-Border Consequences

The proliferation of pyrotechnics during the celebrations also sparked a blame game with bordering the neighboring country, with authorities in Pakistani Punjab province pointing to declining air quality in the city of Lahore on contaminants coming from neighboring India following the festivities.

Persistent Pollution Crisis

The dangerously high levels of pollution in the capital have continued as a significant issue for more than 15 years, with the situation gradually deteriorating.

Around Diwali, the concentration of toxic particles in the atmosphere has been documented to shoot up to seventy percent above the worst records ever documented in Beijing, which was previously viewed as the world's most polluted metropolis.

Multiple Contamination Factors

The situation in the capital is caused by a combination of various sources including transportation pollution, airborne particles, building projects, waste incineration and pollutants from crop residue ignition in adjacent areas of Punjab and Haryana.

Within these states, farmers routinely ignite agricultural waste to clear them quickly, generating hazardous pollution that becomes contained over the city as colder air sets in.

Medical and Financial Toll

The economic and health consequences on the nearly 33 million residents calling home the Delhi area is significant, according to various research.

These hazardous conditions leads to elevated rates of neurological, heart and circulatory and breathing conditions, and can even lead to oncological diseases.

The pollution is estimated to be causing 10,000 premature mortalities each year in Delhi.