🔗 Share this article Delhi Awakens to Toxic Smog Post Diwali On Tuesday morning inhabitants of this heavily contaminated metropolis found themselves breathing severely hazardous air that fell into the "severe" level. Alarming Pollution Measurements Various sections of Delhi recorded an air quality index over 500, which translates to 10x the healthy limit set by the WHO. Certain monitoring stations, levels of dangerous airborne particles hit highs of eighteen hundred, representing 15-20x higher than safe standards. Firecracker Restrictions and Current Policy Shifts Beginning in 2020, officials had enforced a comprehensive restriction on the purchase and ignition of fireworks during celebrations due to their substantial impact to the hazardous haze that blankets the capital as winter sets in. Nevertheless earlier this year, the recently formed local administration approached the supreme court to propose a easing of the ban. They proposed allowing "eco-friendly fireworks" – which have been doubted by conservation groups as being only approximately one-third lower impact – as a middle ground between "tradition and public health". Legal Ruling and Enforcement Despite concerns of public health and environmental advocates, the court agreed to the request, specifying that green firecrackers could be set off during designated hours throughout the festival. Throughout the festival evening, there was widespread flouting of the time restrictions across the city, with insufficient enforcement regarding whether the pyrotechnics being used were actually the supposedly greener variety. Several monitoring devices throughout the city recorded pollution reaching highest levels around the night hours to extremely hazardous measurements recorded during the festival in at least three years. Regional Implications The proliferation of fireworks during the festival also initiated a dispute with neighbouring the neighboring country, with representatives in Pakistani Punjab province partly blaming deteriorating pollution levels in the city of Lahore on pollutants traveling from neighboring India following the celebrations. Long-Standing Pollution Problem The dangerously high concentrations of air contamination in Delhi have continued as a significant problem for fifteen-plus years, with the problem gradually deteriorating. During Diwali, the levels of dangerous particulate matter in the environment has been found to increase dramatically to 70% higher the worst readings ever recorded in China's capital, which was previously viewed as the planet's dirtiest metropolis. Multiple Contamination Contributors This crisis in the city is resulting from a mix of different contributors including transportation pollution, dust, construction activities, garbage fires and haze from farm burning in adjacent states of neighboring agricultural zones. In these regions, rural residents routinely set their fields on fire to prepare for next season, producing hazardous haze that then gets trapped over the metropolitan area as cooler air descends. Health and Economic Toll Public health and economic impact on the roughly thirty-three million inhabitants calling home the Delhi area is enormous, according to multiple investigations. The contaminated air leads to elevated rates of neurological, heart and circulatory and respiratory conditions, and can even lead to cancer. The pollution is projected to be responsible for approximately 10k untimely fatalities annually in Delhi.