🔗 Share this article Delhi Rises to Toxic Pollution After Celebrations Tuesday brought inhabitants of the planet's dirtiest urban center were faced with inhaling severely hazardous air that was classified as the "critical" level. Record-Breaking Air Quality Levels Various sections of the city showed an air quality index exceeding 500, which translates to ten times the healthy limit established by the global health authority. Certain monitoring stations, readings of dangerous airborne particles hit highs of 1,800, amounting to 15-20x above acceptable levels. Pyrotechnics Prohibition and Recent Policy Shifts For the past four years, officials had maintained a complete ban on the sale and use of fireworks during Diwali due to their substantial impact to the dangerous haze that covers the metropolis as winter approaches. Yet in recent months, the recently formed local government approached the highest court to propose a modification of the ban. The suggestion was allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – which have been criticized by environmental experts as being only roughly 30 percent lower impact – as a middle ground between "cultural practices and ecological concerns". Court Decision and Implementation Despite concerns of medical and ecological campaigners, the court complied with the request, mandating that environmentally conscious fireworks could be set off during specific hours throughout the Diwali. During the celebrations, there was extensive flouting of the regulated periods across the city, with insufficient enforcement regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the eco-friendly version. Numerous recording stations throughout Delhi showed air quality peaking around late evening to the most severe measurements seen during the festival in at least recent memory. Cross-Border Effects The widespread use of pyrotechnics during the festival also triggered a controversy with adjacent the neighboring country, with officials in Pakistani Punjab province partly blaming worsening atmospheric conditions in the city of Lahore on contaminants traveling from India following the festivities. Chronic Environmental Issue The dangerously high levels of atmospheric toxins in Delhi have continued as a major challenge for over a decade and a half, with the situation gradually deteriorating. Around Diwali, the levels of hazardous particles in the atmosphere has been observed to spike to significantly exceeding the most severe levels ever recorded in China's capital, which was formerly considered as the planet's dirtiest metropolis. Various Pollution Contributors The situation in Delhi is resulting from a combination of multiple factors including automobile exhaust, construction debris, building projects, rubbish burning and haze from farm burning in adjacent states of neighboring agricultural zones. In these regions, farmers routinely set their fields on fire to clear them quickly, creating hazardous smog that remains stagnant over the metropolitan area as cooler air descends. Health and Financial Impact The economic and health consequences on the approximately 33 million residents living in the Delhi area is enormous, according to multiple investigations. This pollution causes elevated rates of nervous system, heart and circulatory and respiratory diseases, and can even lead to oncological diseases. Air quality crisis is estimated to be accounting for ten thousand early deaths per year in the city.