🔗 Share this article

Tuesday brought citizens of the planet's dirtiest urban center were faced with exposed to extremely polluted air that fell into the "severe" range.

Record-Breaking Air Quality Measurements

Multiple areas of the city showed an pollution measurement above 500, which translates to a tenfold increase over the safe limit set by the global health authority.

In some locations, concentrations of toxic particulate matter hit highs of eighteen hundred, amounting to 15-20x higher than acceptable limits.

Pyrotechnics Prohibition and Recent Changes

For the past four years, authorities had enforced a comprehensive restriction on the purchase and ignition of firecrackers during celebrations due to their significant contribution to the deadly smog that blankets the city as colder weather approaches.

Yet earlier this year, the recently formed city administration approached the supreme court to propose a easing of the prohibition.

They proposed allowing "green crackers" – which have been criticized by environmental experts as being only approximately one-third reduced emissions – as a middle ground between "heritage and public health".

Court Verdict and Reality

To the disappointment of environmental and health advocates, judges agreed to the request, mandating that environmentally conscious fireworks could be set off during limited hours throughout the celebrations.

During the celebrations, there was widespread disregard of the regulated periods across the capital, with little monitoring regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the more environmentally friendly type.

Many monitoring devices throughout the city registered pollution spiking around the night hours to the most severe measurements observed during Diwali in at least the past three years.

Cross-Border Consequences

Extensive ignition of fireworks during the celebrations also sparked a dispute with bordering Pakistan, with representatives in Pakistan's the Punjab region partly blaming worsening air quality in the city of Lahore on contaminants coming from across the border following the festivities.

Chronic Pollution Issue

Extremely elevated concentrations of atmospheric toxins in the capital have continued as a major challenge for fifteen-plus years, with the problem showing no improvement.

Near the festival period, the amount of hazardous airborne contaminants in the atmosphere has been observed to shoot up to 70% higher the worst records ever measured in Beijing, which was previously regarded as the world's most polluted metropolis.

Multiple Pollution Factors

The situation in the capital is resulting from a combination of multiple factors including transportation pollution, dust, construction activities, waste incineration and pollutants from crop residue ignition in nearby states of Punjab and Haryana.

In these regions, rural residents regularly burn crop residue to clear them quickly, generating dangerous pollution that remains stagnant over the metropolitan area as winter air arrives.

Public Health and Economic Toll

Public health and economic toll on the approximately 33 million residents residing in the metropolitan zone is significant, according to various research.

This pollution leads to high levels of neurological, heart and circulatory and breathing disorders, and can result in cancer.

Air quality crisis is calculated to be causing 10,000 early mortalities annually in the city.