🔗 Share this article

As Tuesday dawned citizens of this heavily contaminated metropolis were faced with exposed to dangerously toxic air that fell into the "alarming" range.

Alarming Pollution Levels

Various sections of Delhi recorded an air quality index over 500, which translates to a tenfold increase over the healthy threshold recommended by the global health authority.

Certain monitoring stations, levels of toxic particulate matter hit highs of eighteen hundred, representing 15-20x above healthy limits.

Pyrotechnics Restrictions and Recent Policy Shifts

For the past four years, the government had enforced a total prohibition on the distribution and bursting of firecrackers during Diwali due to their major role to the hazardous smog that engulfs the city as winter sets in.

However recently, the current local government petitioned the highest court to seek a modification of the ban.

Officials advocated for allowing "green crackers" – previously questioned by conservation groups as being only about 30% less polluting – as a middle ground between "heritage and ecological concerns".

Court Decision and Implementation

To the disappointment of medical and ecological activists, the court agreed to the proposal, specifying that green firecrackers could be used during specific periods throughout the festival.

During the celebrations, there was extensive flouting of the regulated periods across the metropolis, with insufficient monitoring regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the more environmentally friendly version.

Many monitoring devices throughout the city recorded air quality spiking around midnight to some of the worst levels observed during Diwali in at least recent memory.

Regional Consequences

Extensive ignition of fireworks during the celebrations also triggered a dispute with adjacent the neighboring country, with officials in Pakistan's the Punjab region pointing to deteriorating air quality in Lahore on hazardous particles traveling from India following the celebrations.

Long-Standing Pollution Issue

The dangerously high concentrations of atmospheric toxins in the capital have remained as a serious issue for more than 15 years, with the problem continuing to worsen.

Around celebratory seasons, the amount of hazardous airborne contaminants in the atmosphere has been found to increase dramatically to 70% higher the peak records ever measured in the Chinese city, which was formerly regarded as the globally most contaminated city.

Multiple Contamination Sources

The situation in the capital is attributed to a convergence of various sources including automobile exhaust, construction debris, development work, rubbish burning and haze from crop residue ignition in adjacent states of Punjab and Haryana.

Within these states, rural residents illegally ignite agricultural waste to expedite field preparation, generating dangerous haze that then gets trapped over the city as colder air arrives.

Health and Economic Impact

Public health and economic consequences on the nearly 33 million inhabitants residing in the Delhi area is substantial, according to various studies.

These hazardous conditions causes high levels of nervous system, cardiovascular and breathing diseases, and can even lead to cancer.

Environmental contamination is estimated to be causing 10,000 untimely fatalities annually in the city.