NEW DELHI: Despite restrictions on the sale and use of firecrackers, several parts of Delhi witnessed fireworks late into Sunday evening as residents celebrated Diwali. From outer Delhi’s Pitampura and Burari to Mayur Vihar and the upscale Lutyens’ Delhi, reports of cracker-bursting continued to emerge, even as the national capital’s air quality deteriorated sharply in the early hours of Monday.A thick blanket of smog engulfed several parts of the city, reducing visibility and pushing pollution levels into the ‘severe’ category at some monitoring stations, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).Ahead of Diwali, the Delhi government had appealed to residents to comply with the Supreme Court’s directions on the sale and use of green firecrackers.
Image Credit: Tarun Rawat/TNN (Krishna nagar in east Delhi)
The district magistrate (East), in an order, permitted the bursting of green firecrackers only on November 7 and 8, between 6 am and 7 am and 8 pm and 10 pm.However, residents reported firecracker use in outer Delhi’s Pitampura and Burari, with the intensity particularly high in Burari.Similar reports emerged from Mayur Vihar, while people in the Bishambardas Marg area and Lutyens’ Delhi said fireworks continued, although the intensity had reduced slightly as the evening progressed.
What were the restrictions on firecrackers?
The court prohibited the bursting of firecrackers within 300 metres of hospitals, nursing homes, health centres, old-age homes, educational institutions and other notified silence zones.Only CSIR-NEERI-certified green firecrackers were permitted for sale. The administration had directed that these be sold exclusively at locations designated by the Delhi Police.To enforce the restrictions, the administration had also announced joint patrolling and enforcement teams comprising district officials and Delhi Police personnel to check the unauthorised sale and use of prohibited firecrackers.
Image Credit: Tarun Rawat /TNN (Mayur Vihar)
Delhi AQI slips into ‘severe’ category
The celebrations were followed by a deterioration in air quality, with several parts of the national capital waking up to thick smog on Monday morning.Visibility was significantly reduced in several areas, including around Inderlok, as pollution levels climbed.According to the CPCB, the air quality monitoring station at ITO recorded an AQI of 406 at around 4.20 am, placing it in the ‘severe’ category.Several other key areas in the capital continued to record ‘very poor’ air quality.Rajiv Chowk registered an AQI of 381 at 1.30 am, while the area surrounding South Extension recorded an AQI of 360 at 4 am.(With inputs from PTI)
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