India’s Supreme Court has allowed limited use of “green fireworks” for two days during the Diwali festival next week, even as air pollution in the capital hovers near hazardous levels.

The festival marks the victory of good over evil, light over darkness. Hindus light lamps and burst fireworks to celebrate, with major urban centres like Delhi burning through several million kilograms in a single night, leaving the city’s skyline shrouded in smoke.

In northern India, the festival coincides with the start of the winter smog season, when stagnant air traps smoke from fireworks, traffic, and the burning of crop residue.

Delhi is one of the world’s most polluted megacities and air pollution is cutting the life expectancy of its residents by an average of 11.9 years compared to WHO guidelines, according to a report by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago.

The ruling has thus reignited debate on whether these supposedly cleaner fireworks are meaningfully different from the traditional ones that turn the capital’s skies grey each winter.

The court described its decision as a “temporary measure” and a balancing act. “We’re called upon to balance the interests of both the industry and the health of the general public, especially the aged, the ill and the infants,” a bench headed by chief justice BR Gavai said.

The court said a blanket ban, imposed seven years ago, had proved ineffective as illegal fireworks continued to be smuggled into the capital.

The ruling prohibits the sale of fireworks brought in from outside the National Capital Region and restricts their use to a pair of short windows, from 6am to 7am and 8pm to 10pm, on the eve and the day of Diwali.