Govts, society failed in tackling pollution from firecrackers: Environment experts

With the national capital recording the season's worst air quality post Diwali celebrations on Monday, environment experts said this time too the governments as well as the society failed to tackle pollution from bursting of firecrackers.

Delhi's air quality index plummeted to "very poor", the worst-recorded level this season, on Monday with a large number of revellers brazenly flouting the Supreme Court-enforced two-hour limit for bursting crackers this Diwali.

Expressing disappointment, environmentalists said despite clear warnings by authorities, Delhi again woke up to a blanket of post-Diwali smog.

"This Diwali has proved that governments and we, as a society, both have failed in tackling the pollution from firecrackers, despite all of us trying to make everyone believe that this Diwali will be different. The primary reason behind this failure may be that it was merely an act of tokenism," said Avinash Chanchal of NGO Greenpeace India.

Sharing a similar opinion on the failure of authorities and society in ensuring better air this time, environmentalist Chandra Bhushan said, "Both governments and society have failed. There was clear prediction from SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research) regarding the stagnate meteorological conditions post Diwali. There was a clear enough warning for everyone to get their act together."