🔗 Share this article

On Tuesday morning inhabitants of this heavily contaminated metropolis encountered inhaling extremely polluted air that registered in the "alarming" range.

Extremely High Pollution Readings

Multiple areas of the city showed an air quality index above 500, which represents ten times the healthy limit set by the World Health Organization.

In some locations, levels of dangerous airborne particles soared to of eighteen hundred, equating to 15-20x higher than healthy standards.

Firecracker Ban and Current Developments

For the past four years, authorities had maintained a complete ban on the sale and use of firecrackers during celebrations due to their major role to the deadly haze that blankets the city as winter begins.

Yet earlier this year, the newly elected city leadership petitioned the judicial authority to propose a easing of the restrictions.

They proposed allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – which have been questioned by environmental experts as being only about 30% lower impact – as a balance between "heritage and ecological concerns".

Judicial Decision and Reality

Despite concerns of environmental and health activists, the court agreed to the request, stipulating that green firecrackers could be ignited during limited time windows throughout the festival.

Throughout the festival evening, there was extensive violation of the time restrictions across the metropolis, with minimal monitoring regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the eco-friendly version.

Many monitoring devices throughout the city showed contamination spiking around the night hours to some of the worst levels seen during celebrations in at least the past three years.

International Implications

The widespread use of firecrackers during the festival also sparked a controversy with adjacent Pakistan, with officials in Pakistani Punjab pointing to deteriorating air quality in their urban centers on pollutants coming from India following the celebrations.

Persistent Environmental Problem

Alarmingly severe levels of atmospheric toxins in the city have remained as a significant challenge for more than 15 years, with the problem continuing to worsen.

Near Diwali, the levels of toxic airborne contaminants in the environment has been observed to shoot up to significantly exceeding the worst levels ever documented in Beijing, which was formerly considered as the world's most polluted city.

Various Contamination Sources

The situation in Delhi is caused by a combination of different contributors including transportation pollution, construction debris, development work, garbage fires and pollutants from crop residue ignition in nearby regions of neighboring agricultural zones.

Within these states, farmers routinely set their fields on fire to expedite field preparation, generating toxic smog that remains stagnant over the capital as winter air arrives.

Public Health and Economic Toll

Public health and economic impact on the roughly thirty-three million residents residing in the Delhi area is enormous, according to various research.

These hazardous conditions results in elevated rates of nervous system, cardiovascular and respiratory disorders, and can even lead to malignancies.

The pollution is projected to be accounting for approximately 10k untimely mortalities annually in Delhi.