New Delhi, November 8
A day after Diwali, many parts of the country were shrouded in haze on Thursday as pollution levels spiked to dangerous levels with several people celebrating the Festival of Lights with sound and lots of smoke in defiance of the Supreme Court’s two-hour limit for bursting firecrackers.
There was anguish and searching questions on the yawning gap between the law and its enforcement as the sun struggled to shine through murky skies, particularly in the Delhi-NCR region, which recorded its worst air quality of the year.
Pollution levels in the national capital and its surrounding areas entered the “severe-plus emergency” category owing to a toxic mix of firecrackers, local weather conditions and farm fires in neighbouring states.
The Supreme Court had permitted the sale and manufacture of low-emission “green” firecrackers countrywide and fixed a two-hour period for bursting them. In gross violation of the order, however, people burst firecrackers past midnight. Violations were also recorded in Mumbai, Kolkata, Jaipur, Chandigarh and various Punjab cities.
In New Delhi, the air quality index (AQI) literally went off the charts at 642, several times over the permissible limit, according to data by the Centre-run SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research). In 2017, the AQI post Diwali was recorded at 367.
While some people spoke of maintaining Diwali traditions, others bemoaned the callousness and ignorance of those who continued to burst crackers despite the Supreme Court’s directives. — PTI
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