In order to control the increasing level of pollution in the National Capital after the celebrations of Diwali festival, the Public Works Department (PWD) carried out a pollution control drive on Thursday and sprinkled water in several areas to settle suspended dust particles as part of efforts to check pollution.
“The PWD took the action after the city recorded its worst air quality after Diwali, which saw people in several cities across the country bursting crackers well beyond the two-hour deadline set by the Supreme Court,” said an official from PWD.
The water sprinkling drive by the department was conducted at various parts of the National Capital such as ITO, Rohini, Dwarka, Outer Ring Road area, Pitampura, Delhi University, Dhirpur, Lodhi Road, Mathura Road, Pusa Road and many other areas.
As per the officials, the water sprinkling drive which was started on Thursday morning will continue for the next three day, i.e, November 11.
To control pollution, the Apex Supreme Court ordered to burst firecrackers from 8 pm to 10 pm only on the festival of Deepawali and other festivals. The Supreme Court has also allowed manufacture and sale of just “green crackers” which have low emission of light, sound and harmful chemicals. But despite the Apex Court’s order, firecrackers were burnt before and after the set deadline.
Apart from the PWD, the Delhi Fire Department has also sprinkled water in many areas on request of the people. The officials said that the department recorded around 271 calls related to fire incidents and 50 incidents related to pollution.
“The telephones of the department and its stations did not stop ringing even on Thursday as people were continuously calling for help and making complaints related to fire incidents.
We received 300 calls from the people about pollution and fire incidents but when the fire tenders went on the spot found that there were lots of waste and garbage, papers collected after Deepwali,” said an official from Delhi Fire Department.