Diwali, the festival of lights was celebrated with festive gaiety in the city despite the restriction on bursting of fire-crackers on Thursday. Ignoring the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board’s directives on restricting time to burst crackers, denizens burst crackers at their own wish. The night was lit up with fireworks and bursting of firecrackers continued well over midnight.
Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board had said that people can burst firecrackers for two hours.
Adecibel survey carried out by the Adityapur-based regional office of Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) said that forms were flouted.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) limits noise levels to 65 decibel during day and 55 decibel during night in commercial areas.
Several places including Bistupur and Sakchi recorded levels above the prescribed limits during the 8pm to 10pm window and also after 10pm as per the report of the Adityapur-based regional office of Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) that had compiled noise data before Diwali (October 29) and on Diwali (November 4).
Of the six zones in and around the steel city surveyed by the regional office of the pollution control board on Thursday night, the decibel meter read the maximum at Bistupur near the vehicle testing centre, a commercial zone in the heart of the city.
Pollution norms at Bistupur was recorded 85.3 decibel (dB) between 6pm and 9pm on Thursday.
The piles of waste in and around the city only go to show how much people are concerned about protecting environment. People celebrated the festival with fervour and gaiety in the city and burst crackers the whole night.
This year too there was no decline in the use of crackers and traders were seen cashing on even till late night. The police failed to stop the sale of crackers in the residential areas.
“ We need to become responsible citizens.The entire area has been turned into a garbage dump as wherever you walk,you find waste of crackers. This is not a way to celebrate a traditional festival,” complained another resident.
“People had come out on the roads to light crackers.They were bursting crackers on roads and in streets, but nobody came here in the morning to clean the litter. This only goes to show that our residents are not responsible,” said a social worker.
Meanwhile when contacted, the local office of Pollution Control Board said that the air pollution level in the city had increased many times after last night’s Diwali celebrations.“Since last the night pollution level in Jamshedpur has increased many times and huge amount of toxic gases released by crackers have added to the pollution in the city,” said an official.