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Tuesday brought residents of the world's most polluted city were faced with exposed to dangerously toxic air that registered in the "critical" range.

Record-Breaking Pollution Readings

Several parts of the capital registered an air quality index exceeding 500, which represents 10x the safe limit recommended by the World Health Organization.

Certain monitoring stations, readings of dangerous airborne particles soared to of 1,800, equating to 15 to 20 times above healthy limits.

Fireworks Ban and Current Changes

For the past four years, officials had implemented a total prohibition on the distribution and bursting of pyrotechnics during the Festival of Lights due to their major role to the hazardous haze that covers the city as winter sets in.

However earlier this year, the current city government petitioned the highest court to seek a relaxation of the prohibition.

Officials advocated for allowing "eco-friendly fireworks" – historically criticized by environmental experts as being only about 30% reduced emissions – as a compromise between "tradition and environment".

Judicial Decision and Enforcement

Much to the frustration of public health and environmental advocates, the court complied with the proposal, stipulating that environmentally conscious fireworks could be ignited during specific hours throughout the Diwali.

On Monday night, there was extensive disregard of the time restrictions across the metropolis, with little monitoring regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the supposedly greener type.

Numerous recording stations throughout the city showed contamination spiking around midnight to extremely hazardous measurements recorded during celebrations in at least three years.

International Effects

The proliferation of pyrotechnics during the celebrations also sparked a blame game with bordering Pakistan, with officials in Pakistan's Punjab province pointing to worsening pollution levels in the city of Lahore on pollutants originating in across the border following the festivities.

Persistent Environmental Issue

The dangerously high levels of pollution in the city have remained as a significant issue for more than 15 years, with the problem gradually deteriorating.

Near the festival period, the levels of dangerous particulate matter in the air has been observed to increase dramatically to seventy percent above the most severe readings ever recorded in the Chinese city, which was previously viewed as the world's most polluted city.

Various Contamination Contributors

The problem in the capital is caused by a combination of different contributors including automobile exhaust, airborne particles, development work, rubbish burning and haze from farm burning in neighbouring regions of farming communities.

Within these states, agricultural workers routinely ignite agricultural waste to expedite field preparation, producing hazardous pollution that then gets trapped over the capital as winter air descends.

Public Health and Economic Toll

Public health and economic consequences on the roughly thirty-three million people residing in the capital region is significant, according to various research.

These hazardous conditions leads to elevated rates of neurological, heart and circulatory and breathing disorders, and can result in oncological diseases.

The pollution is calculated to be responsible for 10,000 early fatalities annually in the city.