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On Tuesday morning residents of the world's most polluted city were faced with inhaling extremely polluted air that fell into the "severe" category.

Alarming Air Quality Measurements

Multiple areas of the city showed an AQI exceeding 500, which equals a tenfold increase over the recommended level recommended by the global health authority.

Particular areas, levels of dangerous airborne particles reached peaks of 1,800, representing 15-20x exceeding safe levels.

Fireworks Restrictions and New Changes

For the past four years, authorities had implemented a total prohibition on the distribution and bursting of pyrotechnics during the Festival of Lights due to their substantial impact to the dangerous smog that engulfs the city as colder weather approaches.

Nevertheless recently, the recently formed regional administration approached the supreme court to request a relaxation of the restrictions.

They proposed allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – historically doubted by environmental experts as being only roughly 30 percent less polluting – as a compromise between "heritage and public health".

Court Ruling and Reality

To the disappointment of public health and environmental campaigners, judges agreed to the proposal, mandating that green firecrackers could be set off during designated hours throughout the festival.

During the celebrations, there was considerable flouting of the designated hours across the city, with minimal enforcement regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the supposedly greener version.

Many air quality sensors throughout the capital showed air quality spiking around midnight to extremely hazardous readings seen during celebrations in at least the past three years.

Cross-Border Consequences

The proliferation of pyrotechnics during Diwali also sparked a dispute with neighbouring the neighboring country, with authorities in Pakistan's Punjab province partially attributing deteriorating atmospheric conditions in their urban centers on pollutants coming from across the border following the celebrations.

Long-Standing Environmental Issue

Extremely elevated concentrations of air contamination in the city have persisted as a major issue for over a decade and a half, with the problem showing no improvement.

Around celebratory seasons, the levels of hazardous particulate matter in the environment has been observed to spike to significantly exceeding the worst readings ever recorded in China's capital, which was once regarded as the world's most polluted city.

Various Pollution Sources

The situation in the capital is attributed to a convergence of different contributors including transportation pollution, construction debris, building projects, garbage fires and haze from farm burning in neighbouring states of farming communities.

Throughout these areas, rural residents illegally set their fields on fire to prepare for next season, creating toxic smog that then gets trapped over the metropolitan area as winter air sets in.

Public Health and Financial Toll

Both financial and medical toll on the roughly thirty-three million people living in the capital region is substantial, according to various research.

This pollution leads to increased incidence of neurological, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and can even lead to cancer.

Environmental contamination is calculated to be responsible for approximately 10k premature deaths each year in the capital.