Overview
- The Supreme Court authorized limits that allowed only approved 'green' firecrackers during specified hours, but those limits were widely ignored on the nights of the festival.
- Major markets such as Sadar Bazaar and Lajpat Nagar openly sold banned fireworks and many products lacked required safety labels or QR codes, according to on-the-ground reporting.
- Delhi Police and security forces maintained a heavy presence in marketplaces yet did not stop illegal sales, with some officers observed browsing stalls instead of enforcing the curbs.
- Crackers were set off late into the night near the AIIMS footpaths where patients and families sleep outdoors, exposing vulnerable people to loud noise and toxic air despite legal protections for hospital zones.
- Constant bursting pushed measured pollution to the worst Diwali levels in recent years and several official air-quality stations stopped showing data during peak hours, raising public-health and transparency concerns and underlining that rules without active enforcement fail to protect residents.