Diwali effect: After noisy Sunday night, Kolkata wakes up to polluted Monday

An AQI between 0-50 is considered “good”, 51-100 “satisfactory”, 101-200 “moderate”, 201-300 “poor”, 301-400 “very poor”, and 401-500 “severe”. Above 500 it is in “severe-plus emergency” category. PM 2.5 is particulate matter of 2.5 microns and below. Those are small particles floating in the air.

According to PCB official, the AQI was 186 at the automated air monitoring station on Rabindra Bharati University compound, B T Road at 7 pm on Monday. The figure was 173 there at 11 PM on Sunday. The AQI was also high in the moderate category on Monday registering 177 at Rabindra Sarobar and 175 at Victoria monitoring stations, the official said.

The AQI at Bidhannagar was 155 at 7 pm, higher from Sunday’s 111, the official said.  Air Quality Index in two monitoring stations located in residential areas in south Kolkata was, however, lower a compared to others — 124 AQI at Ballygunge and 128 at Jadavpur at 7 PM, the official said.

On the day after Kali Puja and Diwali last year, the index had breached the 250-mark, said the PCB official. Though, some officials of the PCB claimed that sound pollution was much lower than the previous year. But, the general experience of the people in the city was that there was no much significant change in noise level and air pollution “increased around midnight”.

The state PCB said that it received 140 complaints of the bursting of high decibel firecrackers from Kolkata and its neighbouring areas on Sunday night.

Bursting of firecrackers above 90 decibels is banned. A majority of complaints to the state PCB came from the Lake Town-Bangur area in the northern fringes of Kolkata and from Behala-Parnashree and Kasba in south Kolkata. Rampant bursting of firecrackers was also reported from Thakurpukur, Sarsuna, Burrabazar, Posta, Jorasanko, Jorabagan, Shyampukur, Patuli, Parnashree, Tala, Gariahat, New Alipore, Regent Park, Kasba and Shakespeare Sarani areas.

There was plenty of complaints from Haridevpur and Kasba areas of the city and police had to make occassional rounds but to no impact as bursting of crackers resumed once the police team left.  “Last night, I felt that I am sleeping in a battlefield. Despite the Supreme Court order, the administration was basically a mute spectator last night,” environment activist Subhash Dutta said.

According to Dutta, the escalation in AQI in some stations a day after Kali Puja may be attributed to factors like the sudden change in weather and vehicular pollution and may not have connection with bursting of fireworks a day after the Kali Puja and Diwali. “The state PCB needs to take multi-pronged steps to curb air pollution as AQI will rise higher in the coming days, with particulate matters hanging in air in foggy conditions,” he added.

The state PCB, however, refused to accept the charge that not enough was done to bring down the pollution.  “We filed a plenty of FIRs Sunday night. We also took action wherever we received a complaint,” state PCB Chairman Kalyan Rudra said.  Asked about the high pollution level, Rudra said, “Until and unless we compile and analyse the data, it is hard to say, whether this year the situation was worst.”

A state PCB official, meanwhile said that the “rise in AQI” could be attributed to various factors including weather conditions. “The vigilance manpower is much less than actually needed. Only the police can’t control all the pollution. So, it’s hard to enforce, and that is what actually happened,” another state PCB official added.

Echoing the PCB official’s remark, a police officer of Haridevpur Police Station said that it was difficult to enforce the ban. “It is impossible to stop people form bursting high-decibel crackers, if they don’t give up voluntarily,” said the police officer.  Meanwhile, Kolkata Police said that 1,190 people were arrested for bursting banned fireworks in the city and neighbouring areas on Sunday night. According to police, nearly 400 people were arrested for “disorderly conduct”, while 758 others were arrested for bursting banned firecrackers.

According to police, the highest number of arrests were made from North Division followed by South East Division. “We arrested 191 people from North Division and 167 were arrested from South East Division,” said a police officer.

Police in Bidhannagar seized 50 kg of banned firecrackers and arrested the owner of a stall. At least 25 kg of banned fireworks comprising shells, chocolate bombs, Kalipatka etc were seized from New Town Police Station area, said police. Firecrackers were also seized from Bangur. Around 30 persons were arrested and 71 kg of banned firecrackers seized last night from other areas as well. Police have booked those arrested under various section of Indian Penal Code and West Bengal Fire Service Act.

—With PTI