🔗 Share this article

As Tuesday dawned residents of this heavily contaminated metropolis were faced with breathing extremely polluted air that was classified as the "critical" range.

Extremely High Air Quality Readings

Several parts of Delhi registered an AQI above 500, which represents ten times the recommended limit set by the World Health Organization.

Particular areas, readings of dangerous airborne particles hit highs of 1800, equating to fifteen to twenty times higher than healthy limits.

Fireworks Prohibition and Recent Policy Shifts

For the past four years, officials had implemented a complete ban on the sale and use of pyrotechnics during Diwali due to their substantial impact to the deadly smog that blankets the metropolis as the cold season approaches.

Nevertheless in recent months, the recently formed city leadership petitioned the highest court to propose a relaxation of the prohibition.

The suggestion was allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – which have been criticized by environmental experts as being only approximately one-third lower impact – as a balance between "tradition and public health".

Court Decision and Implementation

To the disappointment of environmental and health activists, the court complied with the proposal, mandating that green firecrackers could be set off during limited time windows throughout the Diwali.

Throughout the festival evening, there was extensive disregard of the designated hours across the capital, with minimal monitoring regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the supposedly greener type.

Several air quality sensors throughout the city registered contamination peaking around the night hours to the most severe readings observed during the festival in at least three years.

Cross-Border Consequences

Extensive ignition of pyrotechnics during Diwali also sparked a blame game with bordering Pakistan, with representatives in Pakistani Punjab province partly blaming declining pollution levels in the city of Lahore on contaminants traveling from across the border following the festivities.

Long-Standing Environmental Problem

Extremely elevated levels of pollution in Delhi have continued as a serious problem for fifteen-plus years, with the problem gradually deteriorating.

Around celebratory seasons, the amount of dangerous particles in the atmosphere has been observed to shoot up to 70% higher the worst readings ever documented in the Chinese city, which was once regarded as the globally most contaminated urban center.

Various Contamination Sources

The problem in the city is attributed to a combination of multiple factors including automobile exhaust, airborne particles, construction activities, waste incineration and smoke from farm burning in nearby areas of Punjab and Haryana.

In these regions, farmers illegally burn crop residue to expedite field preparation, generating dangerous smog that becomes contained over the capital as colder air sets in.

Health and Economic Impact

Both financial and medical toll on the approximately 33 million residents calling home the Delhi area is significant, according to numerous research.

These hazardous conditions causes increased incidence of neurological, heart and circulatory and breathing disorders, and can result in cancer.

The pollution is estimated to be causing approximately 10k untimely fatalities per year in the capital.