Diwali aftermath: Special Drive conducted in Chennai to remove firecracker waste
Nov 13, 2023
Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], November 13 : In the aftermath of the Diwali celebrations, roads in Tamil Nadu's capital city Chennai were left littered with fireworks waste and the air quality dipped to poor early Monday morning.
A special drive was conducted by the Chennai corporation in order to remove the firecracker waste. 
A total of 19,063 workers were deployed in the implementation of the "cleanliness drive".
"This year too, Chennai Corporation sanitary workers are doing their best job in clearing crackers waste. 19,063 workers are in the process of clearing the garbage in all zones. Since this garbage is hazardous, our sanitary workers collect the waste from every home and street, collect it in bags separately and place it in the material recovery centre. From here, it will be taken to Gummidipoondi main centre", said J Radhakrishnan, Chennai Corporation Commissioner.
"The process will be culminated by tonight or probably tomorrow morning", he added.
Meanwhile, the air quality in Chennai's Arumbakkam was recorded at 260 early this morning. It was recorded at 227 at Royapuram, it was 316 at Manali and 301 in the Velachery area all in poor and very poor categories.
Remnants of firecrackers, eatables and other such garbage lay scattered on the roads of Chennai's Kolathur, Villivakkam, Koyambedu and Perambur areas.
As per the Supreme Court's orders, only eco-friendly green firecrackers were permitted across the country with time slots. The guidelines issued stated that a fine would be imposed on anyone bursting crackers at unstipulated times.
Similarly, several other cities across the country are waking up to polluted, haze-filled and smoggy air quality owing to the post-Diwali revelry on Sunday.
The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had earlier issued an advisory, allowing people to burst crackers during Diwali but within allotted timings.
According to the advisory, people are allowed to burst crackers between 6 am to 7 am and 7 pm to 8 pm.
In the last five years, the Tamil Nadu government has specified the timings for bursting firecrackers.
"As per the Supreme Court's directions, people are requested to follow the dos and don'ts to celebrate a safe and pollution-free Diwali," the advisory read.
Meanwhile, Delhi-NCR's air quality significantly deteriorated post-Diwali, falling into the 'Poor' category.
