🔗 Share this article

As Tuesday dawned citizens of the world's most polluted city found themselves breathing extremely polluted air that fell into the "alarming" category.

Record-Breaking Air Quality Measurements

Multiple areas of Delhi showed an AQI exceeding 500, which equals a tenfold increase over the safe level established by the global health authority.

Particular areas, levels of PM2.5 and PM10 hit highs of eighteen hundred, equating to 15-20x higher than acceptable standards.

Firecracker Ban and Recent Developments

For the past four years, authorities had implemented a total prohibition on the sale and use of pyrotechnics during celebrations due to their major role to the deadly haze that blankets the metropolis as colder weather approaches.

Yet recently, the recently formed local administration petitioned the supreme court to request a relaxation of the prohibition.

The suggestion was allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – previously questioned by environmental experts as being only roughly 30 percent less polluting – as a compromise between "cultural practices and environment".

Legal Ruling and Enforcement

Despite concerns of environmental and health activists, the court agreed to the proposal, stipulating that environmentally conscious fireworks could be set off during specific hours throughout the Diwali.

On Monday night, there was considerable flouting of the designated hours across the city, with minimal monitoring regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the more environmentally friendly type.

Several air quality sensors throughout the city showed contamination reaching highest levels around midnight to extremely hazardous readings recorded during celebrations in at least the past three years.

International Consequences

The proliferation of fireworks during the festival also initiated a controversy with neighbouring Pakistan, with officials in Pakistani Punjab pointing to declining air quality in their urban centers on hazardous particles coming from India following the festivities.

Persistent Pollution Problem

Extremely elevated concentrations of pollution in Delhi have continued as a major issue for over a decade and a half, with the condition showing no improvement.

Near the festival period, the levels of dangerous particulate matter in the environment has been observed to increase dramatically to seventy percent above the worst records ever measured in the Chinese city, which was once viewed as the planet's dirtiest urban center.

Diverse Contamination Sources

The problem in the capital is attributed to a combination of multiple factors including automobile exhaust, construction debris, building projects, garbage fires and pollutants from crop residue ignition in neighbouring regions of neighboring agricultural zones.

Throughout these areas, farmers regularly set their fields on fire to expedite field preparation, creating hazardous smog that then gets trapped over the capital as colder air arrives.

Medical and Economic Toll

The economic and health consequences on the approximately 33 million inhabitants residing in the Delhi area is substantial, according to numerous investigations.

This pollution leads to elevated rates of neurological, cardiovascular and breathing disorders, and can result in oncological diseases.

Environmental contamination is calculated to be accounting for 10,000 premature fatalities per year in the city.