KOLKATA: Prosecutions and complaints sharply dipped on Kali Puja and Diwali night on Saturday compared to last year. Police and West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) attributed this to better compliance to the firecracker ban order.
On Saturday, WBPCB received 30 complaints, out of which nine were from Kolkata. Last year, WBPCB had received 50 complaints from the city alone. Last year, 15 individuals and housing societies had been booked under the non-bailable sections of Environmental Act, 1986, for major violations. This year there was no prosecution under this act.
Kolkata Police arrested 708 people across nine divisions till Sunday evening. As many as 758 and 452 were arrested on Kali Puja and Diwali respectively in 2019. Last year, 9,100kg firecrackers were seized in the run up to Diwali. This year the seizure has been around 4,092kg, including 1,637kg on Saturday and 134kg on Sunday. The Lalbazar control room received 85 firecracker-related calls on 100 — mostly from Behala, Kasba, Survey Park, Santoshpur and Joka. Bidhannagar, too, celebrated a quiet Diwali with the police arresting only eight people for bursting firecrackers — five from two Lake Town high-rises and three from Baguiati on Saturday evening. Last year, Bidhannagar cops had arrested 72 persons on Diwali and Kali Puja.
Sabuj Mancha — a network of green NGOs across Bengal — which runs control rooms and mobile patrolling units against fireworks, got 52 complaints on Saturday against 86 complaints last year. “We were amazed to see how some notorious spots turned into complete silence zones. This year, Tollygunge, Charu Market and Bhowanipore police stations did commendable jobs. There were a few complaints from Kasba, Thakurpukur and Parnashree,” said Naba Dutta, general secretary, Sabuj Mancha. In Anandapur, police slapped charges under the Explosives Act even against those bursting ‘chocolate bombs’.