The Puducherry police have registered nearly 48 cases against various individuals for bursting firecrackers beyond the time slots prescribed by the Supreme Court for Deepavali this year. The cases were registered under Section 188 (punishment for disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code.
The Supreme Court had restricted bursting of firecrackers to between 6 to 7 a.m. and 7 to 8.00 p.m. in Tamil Nadu. Most of the cases were reported within the jurisdiction of various police station limits in the city.
According to a police official, majority of the people complied with the order.
Police personnel were on patrol urging people to follow the rules, he said.
Cracker sales
Meanwhile, the sale of firecrackers was also very dull in Puducherry this year. Traders claimed that strict rules imposed by the Government for opening of cracker shops had impacted the sales.
The number of cracker stalls had come down by nearly 50% when compared with the previous year.
The remaining shops also had less customers with people preferring crackers with less smoke and low decibel levels. The apex court direction on bursting crackers within the permitted slots has only added to our woes, a trader said.
A Municipal official said that most of the streets in the city were littered with burnt crackers and boxes and the solid waste had increased by nearly 40%.
Though municipal workers were working round-the-clock, solid waste had increased after Deepavali, he added.
As many as 400 tonnes of solid waste was generated in areas falling within the Oulgaret municipality on Wednesday as against the daily average of 360 tonnes, the official said.
Unlike in the past, there were no major incidents of fire. Hospitals reported only a very few cases of minor burn injuries. The Puducherry Pollution Control Committee was evaluating the data collected from various places to measure the quality of air on Deepavali day.
In Cuddalore district, as many as 30 cases were registered for bursting crackers beyond the time slots prescribed by the Supreme Court.