🔗 Share this article

On Tuesday morning residents of the world's most polluted city found themselves exposed to extremely polluted air that fell into the "critical" category.

Alarming Air Quality Readings

Multiple areas of the city registered an AQI above 500, which represents 10x the safe level set by the WHO.

In some locations, concentrations of dangerous airborne particles hit highs of eighteen hundred, representing 15-20x higher than safe levels.

Firecracker Ban and Current Changes

Since 2020, officials had implemented a comprehensive restriction on the distribution and bursting of fireworks during the Festival of Lights due to their major role to the dangerous pollution that engulfs the metropolis as colder weather approaches.

Yet in recent months, the newly elected city government approached the judicial authority to propose a easing of the prohibition.

They proposed allowing "green crackers" – historically criticized by environmentalists as being only approximately one-third less polluting – as a balance between "cultural practices and environment".

Legal Decision and Reality

To the disappointment of public health and environmental campaigners, judicial authorities agreed to the appeal, specifying that green firecrackers could be set off during limited time windows throughout the Diwali.

Throughout the festival evening, there was extensive violation of the regulated periods across the metropolis, with insufficient enforcement regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the supposedly greener variety.

Many monitoring devices throughout the city recorded contamination peaking around late evening to extremely hazardous readings recorded during Diwali in at least three years.

Cross-Border Implications

The proliferation of fireworks during the celebrations also triggered a blame game with neighbouring the neighboring country, with officials in Pakistan's Punjab partly blaming worsening pollution levels in the city of Lahore on hazardous particles originating in neighboring India following the events.

Persistent Environmental Issue

The dangerously high concentrations of pollution in the city have continued as a major problem for fifteen-plus years, with the condition gradually deteriorating.

Near celebratory seasons, the levels of toxic airborne contaminants in the environment has been observed to increase dramatically to seventy percent above the worst readings ever documented in Beijing, which was once considered as the world's most polluted city.

Various Contamination Factors

This crisis in the city is resulting from a combination of multiple factors including heavy vehicle emissions, airborne particles, building projects, waste incineration and pollutants from agricultural fires in neighbouring states of farming communities.

In these regions, farmers regularly ignite agricultural waste to prepare for next season, creating toxic smog that becomes contained over the capital as winter air arrives.

Medical and Financial Consequences

The economic and health toll on the approximately 33 million residents living in the capital region is significant, according to various studies.

These hazardous conditions causes elevated rates of nervous system, heart and circulatory and breathing conditions, and can result in oncological diseases.

Air quality crisis is estimated to be causing 10,000 untimely deaths per year in Delhi.