🔗 Share this article The megacity Awakens to Dangerous Pollution Following Festival of Lights On Tuesday morning inhabitants of this heavily contaminated metropolis found themselves inhaling extremely polluted air that was classified as the "critical" level. Alarming Air Quality Readings Multiple areas of the city registered an AQI above 500, which represents a tenfold increase over the healthy threshold set by the WHO. Certain monitoring stations, readings of PM2.5 and PM10 reached peaks of 1,800, representing fifteen to twenty times exceeding healthy limits. Pyrotechnics Restrictions and Recent Policy Shifts Beginning in 2020, officials had maintained a comprehensive restriction on the purchase and ignition of firecrackers during Diwali due to their major role to the hazardous haze that engulfs the metropolis as winter sets in. Nevertheless earlier this year, the newly elected regional leadership petitioned the supreme court to propose a easing of the restrictions. Officials advocated for allowing "environmentally conscious pyrotechnics" – which have been doubted by environmentalists as being only about 30% reduced emissions – as a compromise between "tradition and public health". Legal Ruling and Enforcement To the disappointment of public health and environmental activists, judges complied with the appeal, mandating that eco-friendly pyrotechnics could be ignited during designated time windows throughout the celebrations. On Monday night, there was extensive disregard of the designated hours across the capital, with minimal regulation regarding whether the fireworks being used were actually the more environmentally friendly version. Numerous recording stations throughout the capital recorded pollution spiking around the night hours to extremely hazardous levels seen during the festival in at least recent memory. International Implications The proliferation of fireworks during the festival also initiated a blame game with adjacent Pakistan, with officials in Pakistan's Punjab province partly blaming declining atmospheric conditions in Lahore on contaminants traveling from neighboring India following the festivities. Persistent Pollution Crisis Extremely elevated levels of pollution in the city have persisted as a major issue for fifteen-plus years, with the situation continuing to worsen. Near Diwali, the amount of toxic particulate matter in the atmosphere has been documented to spike to significantly exceeding the worst levels ever documented in the Chinese city, which was once regarded as the planet's dirtiest city. Multiple Contamination Sources The problem in Delhi is caused by a mix of different contributors including transportation pollution, airborne particles, development work, waste incineration and smoke from farm burning in neighbouring regions of neighboring agricultural zones. In these regions, agricultural workers regularly set their fields on fire to expedite field preparation, generating hazardous haze that remains stagnant over the capital as winter air sets in. Medical and Economic Consequences Public health and economic consequences on the approximately 33 million inhabitants calling home the capital region is enormous, according to numerous investigations. The contaminated air results in high levels of neurological, cardiovascular and respiratory disorders, and can result in cancer. Environmental contamination is projected to be causing ten thousand premature deaths per year in the city.