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Tuesday brought inhabitants of this heavily contaminated metropolis were faced with breathing severely hazardous air that registered in the "critical" range.

Extremely High Air Quality Measurements

Multiple areas of the city showed an AQI over 500, which translates to ten times the healthy limit established by the global health authority.

Particular areas, readings of toxic particulate matter soared to of 1,800, representing 15-20x exceeding healthy limits.

Fireworks Restrictions and New Policy Shifts

For the past four years, officials had maintained a total prohibition on the sale and use of fireworks during celebrations due to their substantial impact to the hazardous haze that covers the city as winter approaches.

Yet recently, the recently formed regional government petitioned the judicial authority to request a relaxation of the restrictions.

The suggestion was allowing "eco-friendly fireworks" – previously criticized by environmentalists as being only roughly 30 percent lower impact – as a balance between "tradition and environment".

Judicial Decision and Enforcement

Despite concerns of environmental and health activists, judges complied with the request, mandating that environmentally conscious fireworks could be used during designated periods throughout the Diwali.

During the celebrations, there was considerable disregard of the designated hours across the city, with insufficient monitoring regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the supposedly greener variety.

Several monitoring devices throughout Delhi showed contamination spiking around late evening to the most severe readings seen during Diwali in at least three years.

International Consequences

The proliferation of firecrackers during Diwali also triggered a dispute with bordering Pakistan, with representatives in Pakistani Punjab pointing to deteriorating pollution levels in Lahore on hazardous particles originating in India following the events.

Persistent Pollution Issue

Extremely elevated levels of pollution in the capital have remained as a major challenge for more than 15 years, with the condition showing no improvement.

Around the festival period, the concentration of toxic particles in the environment has been documented to increase dramatically to seventy percent above the most severe levels ever measured in China's capital, which was once viewed as the globally most contaminated city.

Various Contamination Factors

This crisis in the city is resulting from a mix of multiple factors including automobile exhaust, construction debris, construction activities, rubbish burning and pollutants from agricultural fires in neighbouring states of neighboring agricultural zones.

In these regions, rural residents regularly set their fields on fire to clear them quickly, producing dangerous pollution that then gets trapped over the city as colder air descends.

Medical and Economic Impact

Both financial and medical consequences on the approximately 33 million inhabitants living in the metropolitan zone is significant, according to numerous investigations.

These hazardous conditions results in elevated rates of nervous system, heart and circulatory and breathing disorders, and can potentially cause cancer.

Air quality crisis is projected to be causing ten thousand early fatalities annually in Delhi.