Delhi Police seize over 17k kg crackers but Delhiites violate norms

New Delhi, Oct 25 (IANS) The Delhi Police seized more than 17,000 kg firecrackers in the last 24 days, but many people in the national capital still got hold of them and used them on Diwali on Tuesday, as evident through several videos and pictures doing rounds on social media.

Many Twitter users, including some politicians, on the eve of Diwali, shared several videos and pictures of people violating the rules and bursting crackers. A few videos also showed some of the politicians bursting crackers either in front of their house or on the rooftop.

"Selective ban against Hindu festivals will never work. When the unsuccessful government and judiciary try to blame the rising pollution on children's festivals, then this will happen," Delhi BJP leader, Kapil Mishra tweeted while sharing a video with an overview of an area where crackers were being burst.

"Seems all of Delhi is going to be behind bars for the next six months. By the way, Happy Diwali to all Delhiites," another Twitter user wrote while tagging a video showing high intensity firecrackers on and off ground and even in mid-air.

Tajinder Pal Bagga, another BJP politician, shared several videos on social media, defying the firecracker ban on Diwali to take a jibe at the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government.

Locals claimed that the firecrackers were being sold in JJ clusters of Wazirpur, Madangir, Narela and Wazirabad. Some of the crackers were also being sold in Nihal Vihar, Punjabi Basti, Janta Market, Syed Gaon, among others.

"My neighbour had bought crackers from Farukh Nagar near Gurugram," said a resident of Maidangarhi near Chattarpur, requesting annoymity.

According to data shared by Delhi Police, from October 1 to 24, a total of 17,357.134 kg firecrackers were seized which were kept for storage or sale and a total of 150 firecrackers sales were registered.

"A total of 3.608 kg crackers were seized for bursting and 23 cases were registered for bursting firecrackers across the city," the data said.

Since the ban on sale of firecrackers was imposed in the national capital, the police teams in separate operations across the city had arrested many people for selling, storing and supplying illegal firecrackers, said a senior police official.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday the AAP government claimed that this year pollution level in the national capital was the lowest after Diwali compared to the last five years.

Sharing the data of the last five years, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said that this year there has been a reduction of 30 per cent in pollution compared to last year itself and 30 per cent lesser firecrackers were burst in Delhi this Diwali, showing that people are becoming aware.