Special drive within 5 km of Salt Lake stadium to keep pollution down

Kolkata: The state Environment department has undertaken a special campaign within 5 km vicinity of Swami Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan to ensure that the air quality does not deteriorate miserably on the day of Kali Puja. The special drive of the department came in the wake of matches of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup that are being held in the stadium that contributed to a drastic fall of the air quality.

"We have come up with a special order for the Bidhannagar area for the day of Diwali to maintain air quality within a limit urging the residents to keep bursting firecrackers to a minimum level. The FIFA Under 17-World Cup matches are being held in Yuva Bharati and a number of foreigners have turned up to witness the matches," Environment minister Sovan Chatterjee said on Monday.

The West Bengal Pollution Control Board has undertaken special campaigns in schools and colleges that are within 5 km of the stadium to spread awareness about the air quality and its repercussions. The bus drivers in the terminuses have also been sensitised for minimum honking to check sound pollution.

Chatterjee said that the enforcement of sound limit within 90 decibel will exist in the state and made a special appeal to every responsible citizen not to burst any crackers particularly between 10 pm to 6 am on Kali Puja. "We have made all efforts to sensitise people that Diwali and Kali Puja are festivals of light and people should abstain from bursting firecrackers. We have a custom of bursting firecrackers during Kali Puja. So, here in Bengal, there is no ban on crackers like that in Delhi but we are trying to keep the sound level within a limit," the Environment minister said.

He added that seizure of banned firecrackers by the police have gone down this year that ensures that people in the state are gradually shunning sound crackers. "The bread and butter of a number of people in Nangi, Champahati and many other parts of the state is dependent on the bazi (firecracker) business. So a ban on such crackers will also endanger their livelihood. We cannot do that," he added.