The number of arrests this Diwali in places like New Town, Salt Lake, Baguiati, Bangur, Rajarhat and Kestopur for bursting firecrackers and disorderly conduct was more than four times the figure recorded on Diwali 2022, police said.
From Sunday night till early on Monday, the police rounded up 167 people for bursting crackers and disorderly conduct such as getting involved in drunken brawls, said an officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate.
Last year, around 40 people had been arrested on Diwali night for such offences. On Diwali 2021, around 75 people had been arrested.
The arrest figures, provided by the commissionerate, point at rampant bursting of firecrackers across the northeastern parts of the city, in brazen violation of a Supreme Court order.
The apex court has banned all firecrackers except those certified as green. For Diwali night, the court specified a two-hour window — 8pm to 10pm — for bursting green firecrackers.
Residents of Bangur, Lake Town, Baguiati, Kaikhali, Kestopur, Chinar Park, Narayanpur, Rajarhat and Salt Lake said Diwali revellers made mockery of the Supreme Court order.
On Monday evening, too, the bursting of crackers continued since evening in all these pockets.
This year the police seized around 90kg of sound-emitting crackers and 10 litres of alcohol from revellers who were found bursting banned crackers and drinking in the open.
A senior officer in the Bidhannagar commissionerate said many of the seized boxes of crackers had signs claiming they were green crackers.
Boxes containing green crackers must have a QR code, whose authenticity could be checked by scanning it with a mobile app developed by the CSIR-NEERI, a central government research institute.
“We checked many boxes using the app and seized them after we found that the stickers were fake,” said the officer.
Pramila Choudhury, a resident of a housing complex in New Town, said her pets Marshall (dog) and Yeti (cat) refused to come out of her bedroom and were cowering throughout the night.
“Both my pets refused to eat and were shivering as crackers went off in quick succession,” Choudhury said.