Altogether 720 people were arrested across Kolkata on Diwali night for bursting banned firecrackers. In and around Salt Lake, at least 75 people were arrested.
Last year, 605 people were arrested in the city, an officer of Kolkata police said.
On Friday evening, too, firecrackers were burst in Kolkata and surrounding areas.
The Supreme Court has banned all firecrackers except those certified as green crackers. For Diwali night, the court had specified a two-hour window — 8pm to 10pm — for bursting green firecrackers.
The order was, however, rampantly violated across the city and in Salt Lake and New Town on Thursday night. Banned crackers frequently burst and the two-hour window was hardly adhered to.
On Thursday night, the majority of the violations were reported from areas like Jadavpur, Kasba, Garfa, Bansdroni, Behala, Chitpur and Cossipore. The heart of the city was quieter, the police said.
Pollution control board (PCB) officials said they received 48 complaints on Diwali night, mostly from Baguiati, Lake Town, Tallah, Sonarpur, Maniktala, Bhowanipore, Kalighat and Phoolbagan. The complaints were forwarded to law enforcement agencies.
Complaints of violation poured in from Garfa between 3am and 3.30am, PCB officials said. Post-11.30pm, a number of complaints came from areas on the fringes, such as Narendrapur and Baguiati.
Members of the green platform, Sabuj Mancha, said they received 75 complaints on Thursday night.
“There was tremendous violation,” said Naba Dutta, secretary of Sabuj Mancha who was monitoring the situation till late on Diwali.
“We received about 75 complaints on Diwali night, of which 30 were from people in Kolkata. But that does not reflect the true picture of violation as people only complained about noisy crackers. Most do not know that even phuljhuris (sparklers) are not allowed if they do not have the mandatory green cracker certification. Our experience shows hardly any green crackers were burst in the city,” said Dutta.
The Bidhannagar commissionerate arrested at least 77 people for bursting banned crackers and seized 335kg of illegal crackers from various places, including Bangur, Lake Town, Baguiati and Rajarhat.
According to a senior officer of the commissionerate, they had received more than 30 complaints from New Town, Bangur Avenue, Rajarhat and Lake Town.
“We found many people bursting crackers off main roads and in lanes and bylanes. Some burst banned crackers till late at night,” the officer said.
Officers of Kolkata and Bidhannagar police said they had made the same arrangements on Friday as on Diwali night.
“We want to minimise the violation of the cracker ban. It is not possible to completely stop bursting of banned firecrackers. We are trying our best by creating awareness and making rounds of the traditional hotspots,” said an officer at Lalbazar.
