🔗 Share this article

On Tuesday morning inhabitants of this heavily contaminated metropolis found themselves exposed to severely hazardous air that registered in the "critical" level.

Record-Breaking Pollution Measurements

Various sections of Delhi registered an pollution measurement over 500, which translates to ten times the safe limit established by the WHO.

Particular areas, concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 reached peaks of 1,800, equating to fifteen to twenty times above acceptable standards.

Pyrotechnics Restrictions and New Changes

For the past four years, the government had implemented a complete ban on the distribution and bursting of fireworks during Diwali due to their significant contribution to the deadly haze that engulfs the city as winter sets in.

Nevertheless earlier this year, the newly elected city administration appealed to the supreme court to seek a easing of the restrictions.

The suggestion was allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – which have been doubted by environmental experts as being only roughly 30 percent reduced emissions – as a compromise between "heritage and environment".

Court Ruling and Implementation

To the disappointment of public health and environmental campaigners, the court approved the appeal, mandating that green firecrackers could be used during limited periods throughout the celebrations.

Throughout the festival evening, there was widespread disregard of the regulated periods across the capital, with insufficient regulation regarding whether the pyrotechnics being used were actually the eco-friendly variety.

Numerous air quality sensors throughout Delhi recorded pollution spiking around midnight to extremely hazardous levels recorded during Diwali in at least three years.

Regional Consequences

The widespread use of pyrotechnics during the celebrations also triggered a blame game with adjacent the neighboring country, with officials in Pakistan's the Punjab region pointing to deteriorating atmospheric conditions in Lahore on hazardous particles originating in neighboring India following the festivities.

Chronic Pollution Crisis

The dangerously high concentrations of air contamination in Delhi have continued as a major issue for more than 15 years, with the problem continuing to worsen.

During celebratory seasons, the levels of hazardous particles in the air has been observed to shoot up to significantly exceeding the worst records ever documented in the Chinese city, which was formerly viewed as the planet's dirtiest metropolis.

Diverse Contamination Factors

The situation in Delhi is caused by a convergence of various sources including automobile exhaust, airborne particles, building projects, waste incineration and haze from agricultural fires in adjacent states of Punjab and Haryana.

Within these states, farmers regularly set their fields on fire to expedite field preparation, producing toxic haze that remains stagnant over the city as colder air arrives.

Medical and Financial Consequences

Public health and economic impact on the approximately 33 million residents calling home the Delhi area is enormous, according to various studies.

The contaminated air causes elevated rates of nervous system, heart and circulatory and lung disorders, and can result in malignancies.

The pollution is estimated to be accounting for ten thousand untimely deaths annually in the capital.