More than 500 people were arrested in Kolkata and pockets of Salt Lake, Baguiati, Lake Town and Rajarhat for bursting banned firecrackers on Diwali night.
Although, there were fewer arrests compared with last year, which was around 800, many Kolakatans complained that the noise pollution created by bursting of firecrackers this Diwali was more than last year.
The arrest count could account for a small part of the actual number of violations, because many victims of the noise demon preferred not to lodge a complaint.
Several residents of Kasba and Anandapur, both along EM Bypass, and in pockets of south Kolkata such as Bhowanipore, Ballygunge and Hazra told The Telegraph that they suffered a more noisy Diwali this year than last year.
Residents of Rajarhat, Baguiati, Bangur Avenue and New Town echoed them. A resident of a high-rise in the Pragati Maidan area along the Bypass said the surroundings were quiet only till it was raining. “The moment the rain stopped, I could hear loud firecrackers being burst,” said Ritesh Agarwal.
Antara Mukherjee, who lives in Anandapur, said her two pet dogs had not been eating for three days, traumatised by the sound of firecrackers.
A senior officer of Kolkata police said they had arrested 480 people for bursting banned firecrackers on Diwali night.
In the Bidhannagar commissionerate area, 42 people were arrested for the same offence on Monday night, officers said.
In Kolkata, 325 people were prosecuted for traffic violations, including 76 for drink driving, on Monday night. As many as 37 people were arrested for bursting banned firecrackers on Tuesday.
An officer at Lalbazar said that despite efforts made by them, it was impossible to prevent bursting of banned firecrackers so long the production was not stopped.
“Many officers said that while trying to stop bursting of loud firecrackers, they found that the boxes containing the items bore the logo of green crackers but did not have the required QR code. It was apparent that the people who purchased these firecrackers were duped into thinking that these were approved green crackers,” said an officer of the rank of assistant commissioner.
The high court had ruled that only green firecrackers could be burst on Diwali night, from 8pm to 10pm. Boxes containing green crackers must have a QR code, whose authenticity could be checked by scanning it with a mobile app developed by CSIR-NEERI, a central government research institute.
“However, from the number of violations and the seizure of banned crackers in Kolkata, it was clear that large quantities of banned items had been smuggled into the city,” the officer said.
The police said they seized 1,026kg banned crackers from various pockets of the city on Diwali night. Another officer said the noise pollution on Diwali could have been much less if they could have prevented banned firecrackers from being smuggled into the city from surrounding areas, including pockets in South 24-Parganas.
“We have to address the problem at the procurement stage,” he said.
Many residents of Baguiati, Kaikhali, Lake Town, Salt Lake and Rajarhat complained that the decibel meter on Monday night peaked after the skies cleared around 8pm and people continued to burst crackers till at least 2.30am. Gargi Dutta, a resident of a housing complex in Kaikhali, said Lizzie, her two-year-old Golden Retriever, refused to come out from under the bed till Tuesday morning because of the loud sounds of firecrackers.
“Crackers were going off continuously. Although we had kept the doors and windows of our flat shut, it did little to filter out the noise. I went to the terrace once but immediately came back because of the noise,” said Dutta.
Sayantan Roy, who lives in Narayanpur, near Rajarhat, said the sound of crackers forced him to stay awake till late on Monday.
“I had an online meeting at 8am on Tuesday and decided to sleep early. But I could barely sleep because of the noise,” said Roy
