NOIDA: Some people in Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad set off firecrackers to celebrate Diwali on Saturday, defying the ban on their sale and use in the National Capital Region (NCR) imposed due to increased pollution from the air.
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The development occurred even as the 24-hour average air quality in Noida and Ghaziabad fell to a “severe” level, while it remained “very poor” in Greater Noida, Gurugram and Faridabad, the five satellite cities of Delhi in the NCR.
The National Green Court (NGT) recently imposed a “total ban” on the sale or use of all types of firecrackers on the NCR from midnight Nov. 9 to midnight Nov. 30 amid deteriorating air quality.
Ghaziabad resident Amita Sinha said there was a continuous sound of firecrackers throughout Saturday.
Sinha, a resident of the Raj Nagar extension, said that even her dog Monty, a dachshund, remained nervous due to the loud noise from time to time.
“It seems that the responsibility of following the NGT rules and caring for the environment rests only with law-abiding citizens, because those who break the law are still blameless,” he said.
Aniket mentioned an incessant outbreak of firecrackers in his area of residence, Indirapuram, while the situation has also been similar in the Vasundhara area.
Akhilesh Upadhyay, a resident of Nehru Nagar, said: “Despite the NGT ban, some people are hell-bent on firing cookies without realizing the damage they are doing to the environment and, in turn, to all of us. ”
In Noida and Greater Noida, too, the popping of firecrackers continued unabated, according to some residents PTI spoke to.
“No one seems to care about contamination. I could hear the popping of cookies all day from inside my house,” said Savita Mehta, a resident of Sector 21 in Noida.
Shivang Jain, a resident of Sector 19, said, “The firecracker celebration has been continuous since night in your area.”
Manish Kumar described a scene of cracker rockets soaring in the sky over Greater Noida (west), also known as the Noida Extension, and diffusing light in various shades along with toxic gases.
Ram Singh, a resident of Omnicron 1 Sector in Greater Noida, said: “From the mere sound of this, it felt like people set more cookies on fire this year than last year.”
The NGT ban was also challenged by some people in Noida’s Sector 7X, a collective of sectors 73-78, which is home to several skyscrapers and thousands of people, according to locals.
“Cookies are being shot in some societies, as well as on major highways in 7X. Not in all societies, but in some, and it has been ongoing today,” said Amit Gupta, a Sector 77 resident.
Noida Sector 92 resident Sushil Jain said some people also broke cookies in his area on Friday, but the intensity grew on Saturday.
The situation was no different in Faridabad and Gurugram in Haryana, which had recorded “very bad” air quality on Saturday.
“There is no way that one cannot hear the sound of firecrackers today, and all this despite the ban,” said Namrata Banik, who lives in Sector 42 of Faridabad.
She said that her friend’s daughter, who joined them for Kali Puja, was excited to see some people setting fire to “anaar”, although she hated the sound of other cookies.
“It is a spectacle that some people are shooting cookies despite the ban and so much discussion about the damage they do to the environment,” said Kashika Gulati, a resident of Gurugram Sector 58.
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