On Tuesday morning citizens of the world's most polluted city encountered inhaling severely hazardous air that registered in the "critical" range.
Alarming Pollution Levels
Multiple areas of the city registered an air quality index over 500, which equals 10x the healthy level established by the World Health Organization.
Certain monitoring stations, levels of dangerous airborne particles soared to of 1,800, amounting to fifteen to twenty times exceeding healthy levels.
Firecracker Prohibition and Current Developments
For the past four years, the government had implemented a complete ban on the distribution and bursting of pyrotechnics during Diwali due to their significant contribution to the deadly smog that engulfs the capital as winter begins.
Yet in recent months, the newly elected local leadership petitioned the highest court to propose a modification of the prohibition.
Officials advocated for allowing "green crackers" – which have been questioned by environmental experts as being only roughly 30 percent less polluting – as a middle ground between "tradition and ecological concerns".
Court Decision and Enforcement
Despite concerns of public health and environmental advocates, judges agreed to the proposal, specifying that environmentally conscious fireworks could be used during specific periods throughout the celebrations.
During the celebrations, there was considerable violation of the designated hours across the metropolis, with little enforcement regarding whether the pyrotechnics being used were actually the supposedly greener type.
Many monitoring devices throughout the capital registered air quality reaching highest levels around the night hours to some of the worst levels recorded during the festival in at least three years.
Regional Implications
The widespread use of fireworks during Diwali also triggered a blame game with bordering the neighboring country, with authorities in Pakistani Punjab province partially attributing declining pollution levels in the city of Lahore on pollutants traveling from neighboring India following the celebrations.
Persistent Environmental Issue
The dangerously high levels of air contamination in the city have remained as a serious problem for over a decade and a half, with the condition gradually deteriorating.
Around the festival period, the concentration of hazardous particles in the atmosphere has been documented to shoot up to seventy percent above the most severe levels ever measured in Beijing, which was previously regarded as the globally most contaminated urban center.
Multiple Contamination Sources
The problem in the city is attributed to a mix of various sources including heavy vehicle emissions, construction debris, building projects, garbage fires and smoke from farm burning in neighbouring areas of Punjab and Haryana.
Throughout these areas, agricultural workers illegally burn crop residue to prepare for next season, creating dangerous smog that then gets trapped over the metropolitan area as winter air descends.
Public Health and Economic Toll
Both financial and medical impact on the approximately 33 million inhabitants calling home the capital region is enormous, according to numerous investigations.
This pollution leads to high levels of nervous system, cardiovascular and lung diseases, and can potentially cause oncological diseases.
Air quality crisis is projected to be responsible for approximately 10k premature deaths each year in the capital.
