🔗 Share this article

Tuesday brought citizens of the world's most polluted city were faced with breathing severely hazardous air that registered in the "critical" range.

Record-Breaking Pollution Levels

Multiple areas of the capital showed an air quality index over 500, which translates to a tenfold increase over the safe level established by the global health authority.

Certain monitoring stations, levels of PM2.5 and PM10 reached peaks of 1800, amounting to 15 to 20 times above acceptable limits.

Pyrotechnics Ban and New Changes

Beginning in 2020, officials had enforced a total prohibition on the distribution and bursting of fireworks during celebrations due to their major role to the dangerous pollution that engulfs the city as colder weather begins.

However earlier this year, the recently formed regional government approached the supreme court to propose a modification of the ban.

Officials advocated for allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – historically criticized by environmentalists as being only roughly 30 percent reduced emissions – as a balance between "tradition and environment".

Judicial Verdict and Implementation

To the disappointment of medical and ecological activists, judicial authorities agreed to the request, specifying that eco-friendly pyrotechnics could be used during specific time windows throughout the festival.

During the celebrations, there was considerable violation of the regulated periods across the metropolis, with little regulation regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the supposedly greener variety.

Several monitoring devices throughout the capital recorded air quality peaking around late evening to some of the worst levels seen during Diwali in at least recent memory.

International Implications

The proliferation of firecrackers during the celebrations also triggered a dispute with neighbouring Pakistan, with officials in Pakistan's Punjab partly blaming worsening air quality in Lahore on pollutants originating in India following the festivities.

Chronic Pollution Problem

Extremely elevated levels of air contamination in the capital have continued as a significant issue for over a decade and a half, with the situation showing no improvement.

Near celebratory seasons, the levels of dangerous particles in the air has been observed to shoot up to seventy percent above the worst readings ever documented in the Chinese city, which was formerly viewed as the world's most polluted urban center.

Various Contamination Contributors

The situation in the capital is attributed to a combination of different contributors including transportation pollution, airborne particles, building projects, rubbish burning and pollutants from farm burning in adjacent regions of Punjab and Haryana.

Within these states, farmers regularly burn crop residue to clear them quickly, creating hazardous smog that becomes contained over the city as colder air sets in.

Medical and Financial Impact

Both financial and medical toll on the roughly thirty-three million people living in the capital region is substantial, according to numerous research.

This pollution causes high levels of neurological, cardiovascular and breathing diseases, and can potentially cause malignancies.

Air quality crisis is estimated to be responsible for ten thousand untimely deaths per year in Delhi.