Kolkata pockets, fringe areas remain spots of bother

KOLKATA: While most parts of the city witnessed a quieter Diwali, there were pockets of aberrations, too, especially in fringe areas that witnessed a spurt in bursting of illegal crackers after 8 pm.
Complaints of violations came in from areas like Kasba, Jadavpur, Thakurpukur, Dhakuria, New Ballygunge Road, Sakuntala Park, Panchannagram and Garia in the south and its fringes and from places like Posta and Dum Dum in central Kolkata and on northern fringes. In Bidhanagar, maximum complaints came from the Lake Town-Baguiati belt. But, residents said even then the scene was quieter than what it used to be in earlier years.

Maximum complaints and arrests came from the added areas of Kolkata and is immediate surroundings - Anandapur, Topsia, Mukundapur, Naktala, Sarsuna and Oxytown along with Cossipore, Baranagar, Lake Town, Baguiati and parts of Howrah.
Till 8pm on Monday, 77 persons were arrested in Kolkata for violation of firecracker norms and almost 175 kgs illegal fireworks were seized.
Dhakuria-Lake Gardens area, in the heart of the city, too witnessed sporadic bursting of illegal crackers in the evening. "As the evening rolled into night, there was a gradual increase in bursting of illegal crackers. We lodged a complaint with the cops. But, the violation was less compared to earlier years," said a resident beside AMRI Hospital.
Burrabazar-Posta region also reported a high number of violations. The decibel demon roared in several pockets like Burrabazar, Posta, Kalakar Street, Ganesh Chandra Avenue and Pathuriaghata in central Kolkata. Despite the presence of cops in several places, many locals burnt firecrackers throughout the night. "We picked up several people for flouting norms but that did not make much difference," said an officer of Posta PS.
Similar was the problem at neighbourhoods of Baguiati, Lake Town, Keshtopur, Dum Dum and Nagerbazar.
"Since the evening of Chhoti Diwali, we have been receiving complaints of bursting of illegal crackers from high-rises and certain neighbourhoods in Baguiati near Jagatpur and Arjunpur. Accordingly, we conducted special raids on Monday evening and seized 150 kgs banned crackers. More such raids continued through the evening," said a senior police officer of Airport division.
Till Sunday night, Kolkata Police seized 8427.5 kgs banned crackers - one of the highest in recent times - and arrested 82 persons. Bidhannagar Police seized 1328.5kgs of crackers and arrested 13. In Howrah and Barrackpore commissionerates, 1585.5kgs and 272.5kgs banned crackers were seized, respectively. Cops concentrated on fringe areas and took help of drones, too.