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Tuesday brought residents of this heavily contaminated metropolis encountered breathing dangerously toxic air that was classified as the "critical" level.

Extremely High Air Quality Levels

Various sections of the city recorded an pollution measurement exceeding 500, which translates to ten times the healthy level established by the World Health Organization.

In some locations, levels of toxic particulate matter hit highs of 1800, equating to 15-20x higher than acceptable levels.

Firecracker Prohibition and Current Policy Shifts

For the past four years, the government had implemented a comprehensive restriction on the purchase and ignition of firecrackers during Diwali due to their major role to the deadly haze that engulfs the capital as the cold season sets in.

Yet in recent months, the newly elected local leadership petitioned the highest court to seek a relaxation of the prohibition.

They proposed allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – historically questioned by environmentalists as being only roughly 30 percent less polluting – as a balance between "tradition and ecological concerns".

Judicial Ruling and Enforcement

Much to the frustration of environmental and health advocates, judicial authorities agreed to the proposal, mandating that eco-friendly pyrotechnics could be set off during limited periods throughout the Diwali.

Throughout the festival evening, there was considerable violation of the time restrictions across the city, with little enforcement regarding whether the pyrotechnics being used were actually the eco-friendly variety.

Numerous recording stations throughout the capital recorded pollution spiking around the night hours to some of the worst measurements recorded during celebrations in at least three years.

Cross-Border Consequences

The widespread use of fireworks during the festival also sparked a dispute with adjacent Pakistan, with representatives in Pakistani Punjab province pointing to deteriorating air quality in their urban centers on pollutants coming from across the border following the celebrations.

Persistent Environmental Crisis

The dangerously high readings of pollution in the city have remained as a serious issue for over a decade and a half, with the situation continuing to worsen.

Around the festival period, the amount of toxic particulate matter in the environment has been found to increase dramatically to seventy percent above the most severe records ever recorded in Beijing, which was once regarded as the world's most polluted metropolis.

Diverse Contamination Factors

The situation in the city is attributed to a mix of various sources including automobile exhaust, construction debris, development work, rubbish burning and haze from farm burning in neighbouring areas of farming communities.

Within these states, farmers regularly burn crop residue to clear them quickly, creating toxic haze that becomes contained over the capital as colder air descends.

Health and Economic Toll

Public health and economic consequences on the approximately 33 million residents living in the capital region is substantial, according to various studies.

This pollution causes elevated rates of neurological, heart and circulatory and breathing disorders, and can even lead to malignancies.

The pollution is projected to be responsible for 10,000 untimely mortalities annually in the city.