Firecrackers went off in several parts of Kolkata on the occasion of Chhath on Sunday, in violation of rules.
The Telegraph heard sounds of firecrackers going off in the section of the Maidan that was designated as a parking area for worshippers and outside a tank created in Panditiya, off Asutosh Mukherjee Road, for the rituals.
“Six persons have been arrested for bursting firecrackers on Sunday. Also, 10kg of banned firecrackers were seized during the day,” said an officer of Kolkata police.
Calcutta High Court has banned all firecrackers except those that are certified as green crackers by NEERI, a central government institute. And as for bursting, the court has mandated windows for specific occasions.
“There shall be a complete ban on the sale and bursting of all kinds of firecrackers, except green crackers in the state of West Bengal,” the court has said.
The high court’s order mentioned that green crackers can be burst for “two hours during Chhath Puja from 6am to 8am”.
State government officials said that since the Chhath rituals would be performed on Sunday evening and Monday morning, the two-hour firecracker leeway was for
Monday.
On Diwali, too, the court had allowed a two-hour window for bursting green
firecrackers — from 8pm to 10pm.
For Christmas and New Year’s Eve, a 35-minute window has been allowed — 11.55pm to 12.30am.
The court order was violated everywhere during Diwali. Firecrackers were burst indiscriminately on Diwali as well as several days before and after.
The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) cordoned off Rabindra Sarobar, off Southern Avenue, and Subhas Sarobar, off EM Bypass, to prevent anyone from getting in to perform Chhath rituals.
The National Green Tribunal has banned all religious rituals in the two lakes, whose custodian is the KMDA.