Police personnel who spoke on condition of anonymity pleaded helplessness in response to Calcuttans’ complaint that they have suffered the “noisiest Diwali” in recent memory.
“Residents need to be aware,” an officer said. “We can’t prevent everyone from bursting banned firecrackers and beyond the window mandated by the Supreme Court.”
Many in the city complained that they did not see police act even when fireworks went off beyond the stipulated hours and within their earshot.
Senior officers who were in the control room at the police headquarters in Lalbazar said they received complaints of crackers being burst till late into the night.
The state pollution control board said the complaints were not restricted to bursting crackers, but included use of microphones and DJ sound sets.
“Crackers continued to be burst beyond the 10pm deadline in several parts of the city despite senior officers of the rank of assistant commissioner touring the city with their teams,” a senior police officer said.
“The officers in charge of the police stations can try up to a point. But given the personnel strength, it is impossible to strictly enforce the Supreme Court order in regard to bursting of firecrackers.”
The police did not give any official count of the complaints they received.
A senior officer said they received many complaints from Tollygunge, Beleghata, Bangur, Survey Park and Panchasayar. “There were other areas as well from where we received complaints,” he said.
A Kasba resident said crackers continued to burst “past 1am” in his neighbourhood. “My little granddaughter struggled to sleep.”
A little after 8pm, Calcutta police commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal left the control room at Lalbazar to tour various pockets and remained on roads for the next three hours.
He went to Shyambazar, Hudco crossing, Kankurgachhi, Amherst Street, CIT Road and Park Circus.
The police arrested 361 people for bursting banned crackers and over 460 people for “disorderly conduct”.
Officers in charge of several police stations told Metro that those who were arrested were all released on bail and the firecrackers were seized.
“The arrests were made under specific provisions of the Calcutta Police Act. The offenders were made to sit at the police stations for some time and then released on bail,” said a senior officer in the south division of the city police.
“The lock-ups in the police stations don’t have space for so many police stations,” the officer said.
Over 600kg of firecrackers have been seized from all nine divisions of Calcutta police.
“Over 37 litres of illicit liquor were seized and 485 people prosecuted for violation of traffic rules, such as rash driving and riding without wearing a helmet,” said a senior officer at the police headquarters.
In Behala, Posta, Ballygunge, Gariahat and Beleghata and a few other places, the police went to some of the apartment blocks and locked the doors leading to their terraces to put a stop to bursting of firecrackers.