Crackers deteriorate air quality to very poor level

Kolkata: Bursting of crackers and fireworks for two days on the occasion of Kali puja and Diwali till Wednesday, defying a Supreme Court order, caused the air quality in several parts of the city to dip to “very unhealthy” levels, environmentalists said on Thursday.

The situation was aggravated by an overcast sky, light rain in some parts of the city and low wind speed, West Bengal Poll-ution Control Board chairman Kalyan Rudra said.

The WBPCB chairman, however, refused to draw any conclusion as to whether there was any improvement or worsening of air pollution during the two days compared to previous years.

Asked about the readings at air monitoring stations suggesting very poor air quality, Rudra said, “Our staff will collate all information and analyse. Our monitoring stations will monitor the situation till a week after Diwali and we will chalk out an action plan to combat any situation in future as the Supreme Court order envisaged”.

“Due to the present wea-ther situation when the sky is overcast and wind speed is low amid light drizzle for past two days, the suspended particles could not move up and hung around in the air,” he told PTI.

The US Consulate’s air quality index, which mea-sured the environmental condition at the upmarket Park Street area in the heart of the city, showed particulate matter (pm) 2.5 count as “very unheal-thy” at 211 accepted quality level (AQL) at 11 am on Thursday “meaning ever-yone may experience mo-re serious health effects.”

Environmentalist Subh-as Dutta said authorities should have been more careful in preventing illegal fireworks and crackers from districts which flooded the markets in the city.

He called the pollution control board a “toothless tiger” and said it has been unable to enforce the Supreme Court directions.

Stating that there are some practical problems involved in enforcing the ban on fire crackers exc-ept during the two-hour window from 8 pm, Dutta said, “It is difficult to point out the exact decibel count of a fire cracker that has been burst, to pin point where it has happened and who did it in case it happens in a crowd.”

However, there has been a palpable reduction in the bursting of fire crackers in the city due to the wide publicity of the apex cou-rt’s directives and action by police, he said. Police should act more against manufacturers and sellers of banned fire crackers to ensure a better compliance, he said.

At least 556 people were arrested in connection wi-th bursting of banned fire crackers and disorderly conduct in the city over the past two days. Till 11 pm Wednesday, police received a total of 50 complaints regarding bursting of fire crackers, an official of Kolkata Police said.

The complaints were mainly from the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, Kasba, Patuli, Thakurpuk-ur in the south and Dum Dum in the northern part of the city, he said.

Environmentalist S.M. Ghosh said the metropolis earned the dubious distinction of being one of the most polluting cities on Diwali night. WBPCB’s Rudra said the board will analyse the available data on air quality recorded du-ring the celebration.