By Neha Arora and Mayank Bhardwaj

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – New Delhi residents woke up in toxic smog the morning after Diwali. This Hindu festival of light was celebrated by revellers who defied a ban on fireworks.

New Delhi’s air quality is among the worst in all of the world’s capitals. Friday’s reading however was not bad by any standards. People paid for the inconveniences of celebrating India’s biggest celebration in the most noisy and smoky manner.

According to guidance from the federal pollution control boards, the Air Quality Index (AQI), which was a measure of the healthiness and severity of air quality conditions in the United States rose to 451 on a 500 scale. This is the highest recorded reading this year.

The AQI is a measurement of the amount of PM2.5 per cubic metre. Nearly 20 million people live in Delhi. On Friday, PM2.5 levels averaged 706 micrograms. The World Health Organization categorizes any increase above 5 micrograms annually as dangerous.

Airborne PM2.5 may cause lung cancer and cardiovascular disease. Toxic air in India kills over a million people each year.

Sunil Dahiya Analyst at Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), stated, “The Delhi firecracker ban did not seem to work.”

Each year, either the Indian Supreme Court or government officials impose bans on firecrackers. However, the bans are rarely enforced.

To make matters worse, Diwali falls when Punjab and Haryana’s neighbors burn the stubble that has been harvested to prepare for next year.

Stubble fires accounted for up to 35% of  New Delhi’s PM2.5 levels, according to data from SAFAR’s monitoring system, which falls under the federal Ministry of Earth Sciences

    A rare spell of clear skies in October due to intermittent rains and winds had helped Delhiites breathe their cleanest air in at least four years.

    But during winter months pollution levels surge in northern India, as lower temperatures and a drop in wind speed tend to trap pollutants in the air longer.

Ambrish Mithal, a New Delhi doctor and Max HealthCare patient, was fed up with the inability to make the capital more livable.

It’s horrible for people with asthma and allergies. In a tweet on Twitter, he said that despite continuing to argue over the reasons for our suffering, we will still suffer.”

Indian governments are accused of not being enough in curbing pollution. However, their priority is economic growth and a rise in living standards.

Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, told the COP26 summit in Glasgow Monday that India would reach net zero carbon emissions by 2070. But some experts believed that that goal was more than two decades off.