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Tuesday brought inhabitants of this heavily contaminated metropolis encountered inhaling extremely polluted air that registered in the "severe" level.

Alarming Pollution Measurements

Multiple areas of the capital showed an AQI over 500, which translates to a tenfold increase over the safe limit established by the global health authority.

In some locations, levels of dangerous airborne particles reached peaks of 1,800, representing 15-20x above safe levels.

Pyrotechnics Ban and New Developments

For the past four years, officials had enforced a complete ban on the sale and use of pyrotechnics during celebrations due to their substantial impact to the deadly haze that blankets the metropolis as winter approaches.

Yet earlier this year, the recently formed city administration petitioned the supreme court to seek a relaxation of the prohibition.

The suggestion was allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – previously doubted by environmental experts as being only roughly 30 percent reduced emissions – as a compromise between "heritage and ecological concerns".

Court Decision and Implementation

Much to the frustration of medical and ecological campaigners, the court agreed to the proposal, specifying that environmentally conscious fireworks could be used during specific time windows throughout the celebrations.

On Monday night, there was extensive violation of the designated hours across the city, with minimal monitoring regarding whether the pyrotechnics being used were actually the supposedly greener version.

Numerous monitoring devices throughout the city showed contamination reaching highest levels around midnight to the most severe readings seen during Diwali in at least recent memory.

Regional Effects

Extensive ignition of pyrotechnics during Diwali also triggered a blame game with adjacent the neighboring country, with representatives in Pakistani Punjab province pointing to deteriorating air quality in the city of Lahore on contaminants originating in neighboring India following the celebrations.

Long-Standing Pollution Problem

The dangerously high readings of pollution in Delhi have continued as a significant issue for more than 15 years, with the condition continuing to worsen.

Near the festival period, the concentration of hazardous particulate matter in the air has been found to shoot up to 70% higher the worst levels ever documented in China's capital, which was once viewed as the planet's dirtiest city.

Diverse Contamination Factors

The problem in Delhi is attributed to a combination of multiple factors including transportation pollution, airborne particles, building projects, rubbish burning and pollutants from crop residue ignition in nearby states of Punjab and Haryana.

Within these states, rural residents illegally ignite agricultural waste to clear them quickly, producing hazardous smog that remains stagnant over the metropolitan area as cooler air arrives.

Health and Economic Toll

Public health and economic toll on the roughly thirty-three million people residing in the metropolitan zone is substantial, according to various investigations.

This pollution leads to elevated rates of nervous system, heart and circulatory and respiratory diseases, and can potentially cause oncological diseases.

Air quality crisis is estimated to be causing ten thousand untimely deaths each year in the city.