🔗 Share this article

As Tuesday dawned residents of the planet's dirtiest urban center encountered breathing extremely polluted air that fell into the "alarming" level.

Alarming Air Quality Measurements

Various sections of the capital registered an AQI exceeding 500, which equals ten times the safe threshold recommended by the WHO.

In some locations, readings of PM2.5 and PM10 soared to of eighteen hundred, representing 15 to 20 times higher than acceptable limits.

Firecracker Prohibition and Recent Changes

For the past four years, the government had implemented a complete ban on the distribution and bursting of pyrotechnics during Diwali due to their major role to the deadly smog that covers the capital as the cold season approaches.

However earlier this year, the current local administration approached the judicial authority to propose a relaxation of the restrictions.

They proposed allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – historically questioned by conservation groups as being only roughly 30 percent reduced emissions – as a compromise between "tradition and environment".

Court Ruling and Enforcement

Despite concerns of environmental and health activists, judicial authorities agreed to the request, stipulating that green firecrackers could be set off during limited time windows throughout the celebrations.

Throughout the festival evening, there was extensive disregard of the time restrictions across the metropolis, with insufficient enforcement regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the more environmentally friendly type.

Several air quality sensors throughout the city showed pollution reaching highest levels around late evening to the most severe levels observed during Diwali in at least the past three years.

Regional Effects

Extensive ignition of fireworks during Diwali also initiated a blame game with bordering the neighboring country, with representatives in Pakistani the Punjab region partly blaming worsening atmospheric conditions in their urban centers on hazardous particles originating in India following the events.

Persistent Pollution Issue

The dangerously high concentrations of air contamination in Delhi have continued as a major problem for more than 15 years, with the condition gradually deteriorating.

Near celebratory seasons, the levels of toxic particulate matter in the environment has been documented to shoot up to seventy percent above the most severe levels ever measured in China's capital, which was once viewed as the world's most polluted urban center.

Multiple Contamination Contributors

The situation in the capital is resulting from a combination of various sources including automobile exhaust, construction debris, construction activities, garbage fires and smoke from farm burning in neighbouring areas of Punjab and Haryana.

Within these states, rural residents regularly ignite agricultural waste to clear them quickly, creating dangerous haze that remains stagnant over the metropolitan area as cooler air arrives.

Public Health and Financial Consequences

Both financial and medical consequences on the approximately 33 million residents residing in the capital region is substantial, according to various investigations.

This pollution leads to increased incidence of nervous system, heart and circulatory and respiratory disorders, and can result in cancer.

Air quality crisis is estimated to be responsible for ten thousand early mortalities each year in the city.