Bengaluru: Supreme Court ruling on bursting of Diwali crackers and the campaing by environment activists to go for green crackers had only a marginal effect, as per the preliminary data on air quality in the city.
In all the air quality monitoring centres in the city, the pollution levels soared during Diwali celebrations.
The Central Pollution Control Board has five cenctres, while the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) monitors data at six places across the city.
In both central and state board monitors at Hebbal and City Railway Station, the air pollution was worst among others with high level of PM10 and PM 2.5 particles.
Central board’s monitoring station at Hebbal on Wednesday showed that the PM10 levels were found to be 454 ug/m3. If the PM10 levels exceed 430 ug/m3, the pollution board categorises the air quality as ‘severe’. CPCB note indicated that even if the air quality is moderate there will be breathing difficulty for people with lung disorder, heart disease and Asthma.
Following Hebbal, the PM10 levels at City Railway Station stood at 407.61 ug/m3 and the air quality was categorised as very poor.
The monitoring station at Hombegowda Nagar recorded PM10 readings at 323, while the one at Silk Board stood at 310.
Further the reports recorded that the PM 2.5 particles which reduce visibility and cause the air to appear hazy was also high during Diwali.
While the total pollution levels during 2017 Diwali was one per cent higher than that of 2016, the exact amount of pollution this year is yet to be ascertained by the KSPCB.
Sources from the pollution boards maintained that by next week they will be releasing the data collated from all the stations.
A boy who got injured while bursting crackers, undergoing treatment at Minto eye hospital in Bengaluru on Thursday (Photo:KPN)
SC order on crackers: Nobody booked by cops
Though the state like Tamil Nadu implemented the Supreme Court order regarding bursting of crackers during Diwali and booked around 1,000 cases, the city police has not yet registered a case.
The Supreme Court had fixed the time slot from 8 pm to 10 pm to burst crackers, but the city police have failed to implement it and people were seen bursting crackers all through the day.
“The ban should have been implemented properly. People have not taken the orders seriously,” said Ananth Rao, a resident of Nagarbhavi.
Additional Commissioner of Police (East) Seemant Kumar Singh said they have been implementing the orders and have increased deployment of beat police to curb violations.
He said the city police have not arrested anyone so far, and regarding the number of cases, he said it will only be revealed on Friday after the festival. “We have received very few complaints from the public and we immediately sent our Hoysalas and beat police to attend them,” he said.
Padmavathi, a resident of Malleswaram said that parents should educate their children about the pollution caused by these crackers and make sure that they burst crackers within the time slot allotted by the apex court.
During day time at various places Hoysala vans were seen warning people against violating Supreme Court rule on bursting crackers.
