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Tuesday brought residents of this heavily contaminated metropolis encountered breathing severely hazardous air that was classified as the "alarming" level.

Record-Breaking Pollution Levels

Multiple areas of the city showed an AQI exceeding 500, which equals ten times the recommended limit recommended by the WHO.

Particular areas, levels of toxic particulate matter reached peaks of 1800, amounting to fifteen to twenty times above healthy limits.

Fireworks Restrictions and New Developments

For the past four years, the government had maintained a comprehensive restriction on the purchase and ignition of fireworks during the Festival of Lights due to their substantial impact to the deadly smog that covers the metropolis as the cold season begins.

However recently, the current regional leadership appealed to the supreme court to request a relaxation of the restrictions.

Officials advocated for allowing "green crackers" – which have been criticized by environmentalists as being only approximately one-third reduced emissions – as a compromise between "heritage and public health".

Judicial Ruling and Enforcement

Much to the frustration of medical and ecological advocates, judicial authorities complied with the appeal, mandating that green firecrackers could be ignited during limited time windows throughout the Diwali.

During the celebrations, there was extensive violation of the time restrictions across the metropolis, with little regulation regarding whether the pyrotechnics being used were actually the supposedly greener type.

Many monitoring devices throughout Delhi showed contamination spiking around midnight to the most severe levels recorded during the festival in at least three years.

International Consequences

The widespread use of pyrotechnics during the celebrations also triggered a blame game with adjacent Pakistan, with authorities in Pakistan's Punjab pointing to deteriorating air quality in their urban centers on pollutants coming from neighboring India following the celebrations.

Chronic Pollution Crisis

Alarmingly severe readings of atmospheric toxins in the capital have continued as a significant problem for over a decade and a half, with the problem showing no improvement.

During Diwali, the concentration of toxic particles in the atmosphere has been observed to spike to significantly exceeding the peak records ever documented in China's capital, which was once considered as the world's most polluted metropolis.

Multiple Contamination Factors

The problem in the capital is caused by a mix of different contributors including transportation pollution, airborne particles, building projects, rubbish burning and smoke from agricultural fires in neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana.

In these regions, agricultural workers regularly set their fields on fire to expedite field preparation, creating hazardous haze that becomes contained over the capital as colder air sets in.

Public Health and Economic Consequences

Both financial and medical toll on the nearly 33 million people living in the Delhi area is substantial, according to numerous studies.

This pollution causes high levels of neurological, heart and circulatory and respiratory diseases, and can even lead to oncological diseases.

Air quality crisis is projected to be responsible for 10,000 early mortalities per year in the city.