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As Tuesday dawned citizens of the world's most polluted city found themselves exposed to severely hazardous air that registered in the "alarming" level.

Alarming Pollution Measurements

Multiple areas of the city registered an pollution measurement over 500, which represents ten times the healthy threshold set by the World Health Organization.

Certain monitoring stations, concentrations of dangerous airborne particles reached peaks of 1,800, representing fifteen to twenty times exceeding healthy levels.

Pyrotechnics Prohibition and New Changes

For the past four years, authorities had implemented a comprehensive restriction on the sale and use of pyrotechnics during the Festival of Lights due to their substantial impact to the deadly smog that engulfs the metropolis as colder weather begins.

Yet earlier this year, the current city leadership appealed to the supreme court to propose a easing of the restrictions.

They proposed allowing "green crackers" – which have been questioned by conservation groups as being only roughly 30 percent lower impact – as a compromise between "heritage and environment".

Legal Ruling and Enforcement

To the disappointment of medical and ecological campaigners, judges agreed to the proposal, stipulating that eco-friendly pyrotechnics could be ignited during designated time windows throughout the celebrations.

During the celebrations, there was extensive flouting of the designated hours across the city, with insufficient regulation regarding whether the pyrotechnics being used were actually the eco-friendly type.

Numerous monitoring devices throughout the city registered contamination peaking around midnight to the most severe measurements observed during the festival in at least three years.

Regional Effects

The proliferation of fireworks during the celebrations also sparked a blame game with bordering Pakistan, with officials in Pakistani Punjab province pointing to worsening atmospheric conditions in Lahore on pollutants traveling from across the border following the festivities.

Persistent Pollution Problem

Extremely elevated readings of air contamination in the city have continued as a serious issue for more than 15 years, with the situation showing no improvement.

Around celebratory seasons, the amount of toxic particulate matter in the air has been found to spike to seventy percent above the most severe readings ever recorded in Beijing, which was previously considered as the globally most contaminated city.

Various Pollution Contributors

This crisis in the city is attributed to a convergence of various sources including transportation pollution, dust, construction activities, waste incineration and pollutants from crop residue ignition in nearby states of farming communities.

In these regions, agricultural workers illegally burn crop residue to clear them quickly, producing hazardous pollution that then gets trapped over the metropolitan area as cooler air arrives.

Health and Economic Consequences

Both financial and medical toll on the approximately 33 million residents calling home the capital region is enormous, according to numerous studies.

This pollution results in elevated rates of neurological, heart and circulatory and lung conditions, and can potentially cause cancer.

The pollution is projected to be accounting for 10,000 premature fatalities per year in the city.