Jamshedpur: Diwali, the festival of lights was celebrated with festive gaiety in the city despite the restriction on bursting of fire-crackers on Saturday. Ignoring the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board’s directives on restricting time to burst crackers, denizens burst crackers at their own wish. The night was lit up with fireworks and bursting of firecrackers continued well over midnight.
Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board had said that people can burst firecrackers for two hours between 8 pm and 10 pm on Diwali. In the order, pollution control board Member Secretary Rajiv Lochan Bakshi had said that only green crackers will be allowed in urban areas of districts where the pollution level is moderate. The districts include Palamu, Ranchi, Bokaro, Ramgarh, East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum, Giridih, Seraikela-Kharswan, Hazaribagh, Dhanbad, Godda, Deoghar, Sahibganj and Pakur. The order said that in rural areas of these districts, and other parts of the state, crackers emitting a maximum sound of 125 decibels can be burst from 8 pm to 10 pm on Diwali.
An index reading between 0 and 50 puts the air quality in “good” category. A reading between 51 and 100 puts it in the “satisfactory” category, between 101 and 200 in the “moderate” category, and between 201 and 300 in the “poor category”. The air quality is said to be “very poor” when the index value falls between 300 and 400. An index value between 400 and 500 puts the quality in the “severe” category.
The Jharkhand government earlier had banned bursting firecrackers in public places on Diwali in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, but said that a separate set of guidelines for the same in private places would be issued based on the NGT’s guidelines.
The piles of waste in and around the city only go to show how much people are concerned about protecting environment. People celebrated the festival with fervour and gaiety in the city and burst crackers the whole night.
This year too there was no decline in the use of crackers and traders were seen cashing on even till late night. The police failed to stop the sale of crackers in the residential areas.
“ It was difficult to sleep the whole night. People were bursting crackers and in the morning nobody bothered to clear the rubbish left,” said Mohan Prasad, a resident of Parsudih.
“ We need to become responsible citizens.The entire area has been turned into a garbage dump as wherever you walk,you find waste of crackers. This is not a way to celebrate a traditional festival,” complained another resident.
“People had come out on the roads to light crackers.They were bursting crackers on roads and in streets, but nobody came here in the morning to clean the litter. This only goes to show that our residents are not responsible,” said a social worker.
Meanwhile when contacted, the local office of Pollution Control Board said that the air pollution level in the city had increased many times after last night’s Diwali celebrations.“Since last the night pollution level in Jamshedpur has increased many times and huge amount of toxic gases released by crackers have added to the pollution in the city,” said an official.