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As Tuesday dawned residents of the world's most polluted city were faced with inhaling dangerously toxic air that fell into the "critical" range.

Alarming Air Quality Readings

Several parts of the city showed an AQI above 500, which translates to ten times the healthy threshold established by the World Health Organization.

Certain monitoring stations, levels of toxic particulate matter hit highs of 1,800, equating to 15 to 20 times above healthy standards.

Fireworks Restrictions and New Changes

For the past four years, the government had maintained a total prohibition on the distribution and bursting of fireworks during celebrations due to their major role to the dangerous smog that engulfs the city as winter sets in.

Nevertheless in recent months, the newly elected regional leadership approached the judicial authority to propose a easing of the restrictions.

Officials advocated for allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – historically questioned by conservation groups as being only roughly 30 percent less polluting – as a balance between "heritage and environment".

Legal Ruling and Enforcement

Despite concerns of medical and ecological activists, judges approved the proposal, stipulating that green firecrackers could be set off during limited periods throughout the festival.

During the celebrations, there was considerable disregard of the designated hours across the city, with little regulation regarding whether the pyrotechnics being used were actually the more environmentally friendly type.

Several monitoring devices throughout Delhi recorded contamination reaching highest levels around midnight to some of the worst measurements recorded during Diwali in at least recent memory.

Regional Implications

The proliferation of pyrotechnics during the festival also initiated a blame game with adjacent the neighboring country, with officials in Pakistani the Punjab region pointing to deteriorating pollution levels in Lahore on pollutants originating in India following the celebrations.

Chronic Environmental Crisis

Alarmingly severe readings of pollution in the capital have continued as a significant challenge for over a decade and a half, with the problem gradually deteriorating.

During Diwali, the levels of toxic particulate matter in the air has been found to spike to significantly exceeding the peak readings ever recorded in China's capital, which was previously regarded as the world's most polluted urban center.

Various Contamination Contributors

This crisis in the capital is resulting from a convergence of multiple factors including transportation pollution, construction debris, building projects, rubbish burning and haze from farm burning in nearby states of Punjab and Haryana.

In these regions, rural residents regularly set their fields on fire to clear them quickly, producing dangerous smog that remains stagnant over the metropolitan area as colder air sets in.

Public Health and Economic Consequences

Both financial and medical impact on the approximately 33 million inhabitants residing in the Delhi area is enormous, according to numerous investigations.

The contaminated air causes high levels of neurological, heart and circulatory and breathing diseases, and can potentially cause malignancies.

The pollution is projected to be responsible for 10,000 early mortalities each year in the capital.