Representational.
Chennai: Air quality in the Tamil Nadu capital had fallen, a day after the Diwali celebrations, to the category of 'poor', official figures suggested. Also, the city police had lodged 354 cases on violations, including the time limit permitted to burst crackers, PTI reports.
The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) updated its site with the figures that most of the observation spots and its surroundings registered 'poor' air quality. The main pollutant was detected as PM 2.5 (particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter).
According to TNPCB data, the average range of Air Quality Index (AQI), observed for a 24-hour period, from October in Chennai city ranged between 345 to 786.
It said, "This is due to a large number of people indulging in very active bursting of firecrackers --mainly night crackers and sky shots and high relative humidity and low wind speed. The climatic condition is not conducive for the effective dispersion of the smoke emanating from the bursting of crackers."
City police registered 271 cases of time limit violations and 69 cases for bursting crackers over sound limits. Police released a statement and said that 14 cases were filed for selling fireworks in violation of government guidelines.
The cases were registered between October 23 and 25.
Earlier, the state government had fixed time limits for cracker bursting based on Supreme Court directions. Crackers were allowed only between 6 to 7 am and 7 to 8 pm.
India celebrated Diwali on Monday.