On Tuesday morning residents of the planet's dirtiest urban center encountered inhaling severely hazardous air that registered in the "critical" range.
Various sections of the capital recorded an AQI exceeding 500, which equals 10x the recommended level set by the WHO.
Particular areas, concentrations of dangerous airborne particles reached peaks of eighteen hundred, equating to 15 to 20 times above acceptable levels.
For the past four years, the government had implemented a comprehensive restriction on the purchase and ignition of pyrotechnics during Diwali due to their major role to the deadly pollution that engulfs the city as winter begins.
Nevertheless in recent months, the newly elected city government petitioned the supreme court to propose a modification of the ban.
The suggestion was allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – historically criticized by environmental experts as being only roughly 30 percent reduced emissions – as a compromise between "tradition and environment".
Despite concerns of public health and environmental activists, the court agreed to the request, stipulating that eco-friendly pyrotechnics could be ignited during specific periods throughout the festival.
Throughout the festival evening, there was extensive disregard of the regulated periods across the capital, with little regulation regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the more environmentally friendly type.
Many recording stations throughout the city recorded contamination reaching highest levels around midnight to the most severe measurements recorded during the festival in at least recent memory.
The widespread use of fireworks during the festival also sparked a blame game with bordering Pakistan, with officials in Pakistan's Punjab province partially attributing deteriorating atmospheric conditions in Lahore on pollutants traveling from neighboring India following the festivities.
Extremely elevated levels of atmospheric toxins in the capital have persisted as a significant problem for over a decade and a half, with the problem gradually deteriorating.
During the festival period, the concentration of toxic particulate matter in the atmosphere has been found to spike to seventy percent above the worst readings ever recorded in Beijing, which was formerly regarded as the planet's dirtiest urban center.
The problem in the city is resulting from a combination of multiple factors including transportation pollution, construction debris, construction activities, rubbish burning and haze from agricultural fires in adjacent states of farming communities.
Within these states, rural residents regularly burn crop residue to clear them quickly, creating dangerous pollution that then gets trapped over the city as winter air sets in.
Both financial and medical consequences on the roughly thirty-three million people living in the metropolitan zone is substantial, according to multiple research.
The contaminated air results in increased incidence of nervous system, heart and circulatory and respiratory disorders, and can potentially cause malignancies.
The pollution is projected to be accounting for ten thousand untimely deaths annually in the city.
A ceramic artist specializing in sustainable pottery, blending traditional techniques with contemporary aesthetics to create functional art.
