Sounds of firecrackers rang through the air on Monday night, often waking residents from sleep, while loud music accompanied many celebrations across the city — all in violation of rules that permitted only green crackers for two hours on Tuesday morning.
A Calcutta High Court order allowed green crackers to be burst only between 6am and 8am on Tuesday.
A resident of Swinhoe Lane in Kasba said he could hardly sleep on Monday night because of continuous firecracker sounds and loudspeaker announcements through the night.
A Sovabazar resident made a similar complaint. “The neighbourhood around Sovabazar Metro Railway station and BK Pal Avenue crossing did not have a moment of silence. If one group was bursting crackers, another group started the next moment. From my home, I could hear firecrackers going off constantly,” he said.
A resident of Jadavpur’s Ibrahimpur Road said she was woken early in the morning by loud music from Chhath Puja processions. “It was deafeningly loud. Several processions passed, all playing similar loud music,” she said.
Kolkata Police said in a statement on Tuesday that it arrested 35 persons for disorderly conduct and seized 152kg of fireworks during Chhath Puja.
At 7am on Tuesday, air quality readings at two monitoring stations — Jadavpur and Victoria Memorial — were “moderate”. Readings were “satisfactory” at the other five stations: Ballygunge, Bidhannagar, Fort William, Rabindra Bharati University (BT Road) and Rabindra Sarobar.
According to the National Air Quality Index, prepared by the Central Pollution Control Board, “moderate” air quality can cause “breathing discomfort to people with lung, asthma and heart diseases,” while “satisfactory” air quality can lead to “minor breathing discomfort to sensitive people”.
The violations started on Monday evening and became more prominent as night fell. One woman witnessed firecrackers being burst in Chhath Puja processions at Hatibagan and near Ultadanga station. “I encountered a procession at Hatibagan around 9.10pm. Firecrackers were being burst on the
road without any fear. I witnessed a similar scene near Ultadanga railway station,” she said.
Arup Halder, a pulmonologist with Calcutta Medical Research Institute (CMRI), sounded a warning.
CMRI’s Halder said residents in areas where firecrackers are burst indiscriminately may experience aggravated respiratory issues due to a sudden surge in pollutionlevels.
“It may not be reflected in readings from the monitoring stations, but people living in that area will experience the impact of pollution caused by firecrackers,” he said.
Several Calcuttans felt that this year, both Diwali and Chhath Puja were among the noisiest in several years. Green activists blamed the deterioration on lax enforcement by authorities, who skipped a mandatory sound limit test and raised the permissible decibel limit.
In 2023, the state government raised the permissible noise limit for green crackers from 90 decibels to 125 decibels, measured at a distance of 4 metres from the point of bursting.
A mandatory sound test conducted before the start of Bazi Bazars was hurriedly organised by the police a day after the fairs were scheduled to start, and none of the other government agencies responsible for the test attended.
“If firecrackers that aren’t supposed to reach people’s hands do so, there’s no way police or anyone can stop them from being burst. The authorities have to act much earlier if they want to enforce the rules,” said a green activist.