Kalipatkas have been renamed Chutphuts and double-sound Dodomas, Navarangs. Generators being passed off as flowerpots (Tubris) burst like chocolate bombs instead of releasing a fountain of light.

This Diwali, banned firecrackers have changed names and shapes to hoodwink regulators.

Metro scanned the Burrabazar area on Monday night and witnessed a brisk sale of banned firecrackers under new names. Any firecracker that produces more than 90 decibel of sound at 5 metres from the point of origin is banned in Bengal.

The banned items were being sold from temporary stalls on Canning Street and Old China Bazaar Street, and in India Exchange Place and around Mehta Building. The sellers were mostly from outside the city.

In many stalls, the banned items were being sold in packets fraudulently bearing the words “Approved by West Bengal Pollution Control Board”.

“Shells, rocket bombs, Dodomas. You name a banned firecracker and it’s available in plenty at the roadside stalls. People from all across the city and its adjoining areas are flocking to the trade hub to buy the banned items. Like in previous Diwalis, the cracker ban is set to be violated this time, too,” said Sudipta Bhattacharya of non-profit SAFE, who accompanied Metro.

“It’s a fact that large consignments of illegal firecrackers have entered the city. The fireworks are being sold in the garb of legalised items,” said Yakub Qazi, of the Pradesh Atasbazi Byabsaee Samity.

The illegal fireworks are locally made as well as sourced from hubs outside the state, such as Sivakashi in Tamil Nadu, said a police officer.

“This year traders tried to push around 35 new varieties but we allowed only 20 as the rest were found to be violating the ban,” the officer said.

“We are trying our best to contain the noise menace on Kali Puja/Diwali night. Our officers are going to various schools or joining walks to spread the message of quiet Diwali,” police commissioner Surajit Kar Purkayastha had said on Tuesday.

Spreading awareness is fine but it needs to be followed up with tough policing, admitted senior officers. “The number of arrests and the volume of seizure are much less this year compared with previous years,” said an officer. “This year pollution control board officials have not joined us in raids as they were busy with their programmes.”

Naba Datta, the convener of Sabuj Mancha, a platform of organisations and individuals working to protect the environment, said: “We will closely observe the situation on Kali Puja night and take up the violations with the police and the pollution control board.”

Advocate Gitanath Ganguly, a former high court-appointed special officer on noise pollution, said he might move court if required.