Hyderabad: Hyderabad was less noisy this Diwali, but that may not mean that fewer crackers were burst on the festival on Thursday.
The Telangana State Pollution Control Board from its 10 monitoring station noted only a marginal increase in sound pollution levels from pre-Diwali days, with an average increase of 1 decibel in the morning and 7 decibels at night.
“The city is switching to more colourful fireworks than noisier ones, which may be contributing to the additional pollution,” said Mr B. Veeranna, senior scientist with Telangana Pollution Control Board.
Chemistry experts explain that in order to get the vibrant colours, a lot of chemicals may be additionally added to the gunpowder.
“Sulphur, sodium nitrate along with slew of chemicals to give crackers vibrant colours,” said former scientist K. Babu Rao. Bursting any kind of cracker will add of particulate matter in the atmosphere. Residents on the whole were happier. “There wasn’t so much noise this time so the nuisance was much lesser, only stray bombs could be heard here and there,” said Ms Anju Nair, a local.
There were complaints about some people firing off crackers way beyond the 10 pm deadline mandated by the Supreme Court.
Cow dung crackers make a comeback
A bunch of youths in the city has adopted the indigenous technique of making crackers with cow dung liquid and flowers of male palm tree.
“I have played with these in my early childhood where my father and grandfather taught me this eco-friendly way of celebrating Diwali. We continue to keep the tradition alive by telling our relatives from the village to send it across in advance, “ says Ms Tejasvi Dantaluri, who is now settled in Hyderabad.
“The technique followed is by drying the petals of the flowers for 15 days and mixing it with rock salt. The mixture is then packed in cloth to make it a ball. Liquid cow dung solution is applied to the ball and left to dry. The ball is tied tightly between palm stems that have been triangularly sliced. Once tied to a coconut fibre rope its ready to rotate,“ explains Ms Dantaluri in her Facebook post.
