CHENNAI : Experts sounded alarm bells a day after Diwali as celebrations left the city with a huge amount of firecracker waste, toxins from which the rain on Wednesday night may have already washed into water bodies. Corporation of Chennai collected as much as 43 tonnes of firecracker waste from Wednesday. With burst firecrackers still lining the streets on Thursday, the city likely produced twice as much waste, environmentalists said, warning that leachate with harmful chemicals could contaminate groundwater.
Triplicane had the most air and noise pollution on Diwali with the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board measuring a high level of respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM) of 297 microgram/m³ for a 24-hour average on Wednesday, up from 37 microgram/m³ on normal days.
Air pollution levels jumped alarmingly in Nungambakkam too, where the board recorded 180 microgram/m³ on Diwali as compared to the normal of 34 microgram/m³. Besant Nagar was the least polluted locality on Diwali with an RSPM level of 110 microgram/m³ and noise level of 73dB. Besant Nagar The locality also recorded the lowest noise pollution on a regular day at 59dB. The average RSPM level in T Nagar is 145 microgram/m³, but the board recorded 180 microgram/m³ in the locality on Diwali.The '108' ambulance service recorded an all-time high of 22,000 calls across the state and responded to 3,413 cases in the state on Wednesday The service received around 16,000 calls and responded to 3,024 cases last Diwali.
In contrast, the fire and the rescue services department received the fewest emergency calls this Diwali in a decade, a record that officers attributed to rain in the city and in several parts of the state.
Only 56 small and medium fire accidents were reported in the state and 26 fire accidents in the city this Diwali. It was a steep drop from the 656 fire accidents in the state and 135 in the city in 2012 and 210 fire accidents in the state and 58 in the city in 2013.
