🔗 Share this article India's capital Rises to Dangerous Smog Following Diwali As Tuesday dawned inhabitants of the world's most polluted city found themselves breathing dangerously toxic air that registered in the "severe" category. Extremely High Air Quality Readings Several parts of Delhi registered an air quality index over 500, which translates to 10x the safe level established by the World Health Organization. Certain monitoring stations, concentrations of toxic particulate matter soared to of 1800, equating to 15 to 20 times exceeding healthy standards. Firecracker Restrictions and Recent Policy Shifts For the past four years, the government had implemented a total prohibition on the purchase and ignition of fireworks during Diwali due to their major role to the hazardous pollution that blankets the city as colder weather approaches. However earlier this year, the current city administration appealed to the judicial authority to propose a modification of the restrictions. They proposed allowing "green crackers" – historically questioned by conservation groups as being only about 30% less polluting – as a middle ground between "cultural practices and public health". Legal Verdict and Reality To the disappointment of environmental and health activists, judicial authorities complied with the appeal, stipulating that green firecrackers could be set off during specific time windows throughout the Diwali. During the celebrations, there was extensive flouting of the time restrictions across the city, with minimal enforcement regarding whether the firecrackers being used were actually the supposedly greener type. Several air quality sensors throughout the capital showed contamination peaking around midnight to the most severe measurements observed during the festival in at least the past three years. Regional Implications Extensive ignition of firecrackers during the celebrations also sparked a controversy with adjacent the neighboring country, with representatives in Pakistan's Punjab partly blaming worsening pollution levels in the city of Lahore on pollutants coming from neighboring India following the events. Persistent Environmental Crisis Extremely elevated levels of air contamination in the capital have remained as a serious issue for more than 15 years, with the condition showing no improvement. Near Diwali, the concentration of hazardous airborne contaminants in the environment has been documented to increase dramatically to 70% higher the worst records ever documented in Beijing, which was formerly viewed as the planet's dirtiest metropolis. Diverse Contamination Contributors This crisis in the capital is caused by a convergence of different contributors including automobile exhaust, construction debris, development work, waste incineration and smoke from crop residue ignition in nearby areas of neighboring agricultural zones. In these regions, rural residents regularly ignite agricultural waste to prepare for next season, creating toxic pollution that then gets trapped over the capital as colder air arrives. Medical and Financial Impact The economic and health impact on the roughly thirty-three million residents living in the Delhi area is enormous, according to various investigations. These hazardous conditions leads to elevated rates of nervous system, heart and circulatory and breathing conditions, and can potentially cause malignancies. Air quality crisis is projected to be accounting for 10,000 premature mortalities per year in Delhi.