People buy firecrackers from a shop in Kalachowkie. File pic
Even though the city's noise pollution level during this Diwali was the lowest in the past 15 years, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) did not take action against those bursting firecrackers, the use of which has been banned in the city. However, civic officials claim that they visited the areas from where complaints came in and the teams formed at ward level issued warnings as well.
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The BMC was supposed to form teams in cooperation with the police to check whether the ban was being observed by citizens. The civic officials had earlier said that on receipt of any complaint, the teams would immediately be sent to the spot. While this was done at a few places, no action was taken against the offenders, revealed sources.
According to civic sources, less than 100 complaints were received by the BMC over the past three days but no action was taken.
"It was difficult to track the noise in the city. Though aerial shots and bombs were audible in parts of Mumbai, they were scattered and mainly at private residential societies which were inaccessible. I received complaints from citizens in Borivli, Worli, Dahisar, Thane and Juhu/Versova. Use of firecrackers was considerably less compared to previous years and people mainly burst sparklers, chakris and anars," said Sumaira Abdulali of Aawaz Foundation in a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Requesting anonymity, a civic official said, "We are yet to compile data of all the 24 wards but the complaints were not much and our teams visited many places to ensure that firecrackers were not burst. It is the result of these efforts that the noise pollution this year was low."
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