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On Tuesday morning inhabitants of the planet's dirtiest urban center encountered inhaling severely hazardous air that was classified as the "critical" category.

Extremely High Air Quality Levels

Multiple areas of the capital showed an pollution measurement over 500, which equals a tenfold increase over the recommended level set by the global health authority.

Particular areas, concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 reached peaks of 1,800, equating to fifteen to twenty times higher than healthy levels.

Pyrotechnics Restrictions and Recent Policy Shifts

For the past four years, officials had implemented a total prohibition on the sale and use of firecrackers during the Festival of Lights due to their major role to the hazardous pollution that covers the city as winter approaches.

However earlier this year, the recently formed city government appealed to the judicial authority to request a modification of the ban.

They proposed allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – previously doubted by environmentalists as being only roughly 30 percent reduced emissions – as a middle ground between "tradition and ecological concerns".

Court Verdict and Reality

To the disappointment of environmental and health activists, the court approved the request, mandating that green firecrackers could be set off during designated hours throughout the Diwali.

On Monday night, there was widespread violation of the regulated periods across the metropolis, with insufficient monitoring regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the supposedly greener version.

Numerous monitoring devices throughout the city showed pollution reaching highest levels around the night hours to the most severe levels observed during celebrations in at least the past three years.

International Implications

The widespread use of firecrackers during the celebrations also sparked a blame game with bordering the neighboring country, with authorities in Pakistan's Punjab partially attributing worsening pollution levels in Lahore on pollutants coming from India following the celebrations.

Persistent Pollution Crisis

The dangerously high levels of air contamination in the capital have persisted as a major issue for fifteen-plus years, with the condition continuing to worsen.

Near celebratory seasons, the levels of dangerous airborne contaminants in the air has been documented to shoot up to significantly exceeding the most severe levels ever recorded in Beijing, which was once regarded as the globally most contaminated urban center.

Various Contamination Factors

This crisis in the capital is caused by a convergence of various sources including transportation pollution, airborne particles, development work, garbage fires and haze from farm burning in adjacent regions of neighboring agricultural zones.

In these regions, agricultural workers regularly set their fields on fire to clear them quickly, generating hazardous smog that remains stagnant over the metropolitan area as cooler air descends.

Health and Economic Toll

The economic and health consequences on the approximately 33 million residents residing in the metropolitan zone is significant, according to multiple investigations.

The contaminated air results in elevated rates of neurological, cardiovascular and breathing conditions, and can result in oncological diseases.

The pollution is calculated to be responsible for 10,000 early mortalities per year in the city.