🔗 Share this article

Tuesday brought citizens of the world's most polluted city encountered breathing dangerously toxic air that was classified as the "severe" range.

Alarming Air Quality Levels

Multiple areas of the city registered an AQI exceeding 500, which represents 10x the safe threshold recommended by the World Health Organization.

In some locations, readings of toxic particulate matter soared to of eighteen hundred, amounting to 15-20x above safe standards.

Firecracker Ban and Recent Developments

Beginning in 2020, officials had enforced a comprehensive restriction on the purchase and ignition of fireworks during celebrations due to their major role to the dangerous smog that blankets the city as the cold season approaches.

Nevertheless in recent months, the recently formed regional government approached the judicial authority to propose a relaxation of the prohibition.

The suggestion was allowing "green crackers" – historically criticized by environmentalists as being only roughly 30 percent reduced emissions – as a compromise between "cultural practices and ecological concerns".

Court Decision and Reality

Much to the frustration of environmental and health activists, judicial authorities agreed to the proposal, specifying that green firecrackers could be used during designated periods throughout the celebrations.

Throughout the festival evening, there was extensive flouting of the time restrictions across the metropolis, with minimal monitoring regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the supposedly greener variety.

Many monitoring devices throughout Delhi showed pollution peaking around late evening to extremely hazardous measurements recorded during Diwali in at least three years.

International Effects

The widespread use of firecrackers during the festival also initiated a blame game with neighbouring Pakistan, with officials in Pakistan's Punjab partly blaming worsening atmospheric conditions in their urban centers on pollutants originating in India following the celebrations.

Long-Standing Pollution Problem

The dangerously high readings of atmospheric toxins in the city have persisted as a serious challenge for over a decade and a half, with the problem continuing to worsen.

Near celebratory seasons, the amount of hazardous particulate matter in the air has been documented to shoot up to 70% higher the peak levels ever recorded in China's capital, which was once considered as the globally most contaminated metropolis.

Various Contamination Contributors

The situation in the city is caused by a mix of multiple factors including heavy vehicle emissions, construction debris, development work, rubbish burning and pollutants from crop residue ignition in adjacent states of farming communities.

Within these states, rural residents regularly ignite agricultural waste to clear them quickly, generating toxic smog that then gets trapped over the metropolitan area as colder air descends.

Medical and Economic Consequences

Public health and economic impact on the roughly thirty-three million people calling home the Delhi area is enormous, according to various investigations.

The contaminated air leads to increased incidence of nervous system, heart and circulatory and respiratory conditions, and can potentially cause cancer.

Environmental contamination is calculated to be causing ten thousand early mortalities annually in the city.