Crackers and fireworks waste was spread over so much area on many a street in the residential pockets of R.S. Puram on Sunday morning that it appeared that they were painted in red and white. Mecricar Street, Arunachalam Road and the nearby areas were among the worst.
Many other residential areas and apartment complexes, too, sported similar looks.
There were exceptions like S.D. Hariharan’s house in Vadavalli that were free of cracker waste. The family said that in response to the ‘Clean and Green Deepavali’ appeal from the Coimbatore Corporation, they chose not to light fireworks.
The Corporation had appealed to the people to post messages, pictures of videos of their ‘Clean and Green’ Deepavali celebrations on its WhatsApp number (8190000200) to promote environment awareness among the city’s residents.
As of Sunday evening, 38 residents or residential communities had posted messages or pictures and 50 students had also sent in their entries, said a senior Corporation officer. The Corporation had said that the residents could send entries till Monday and it would consider those for certification and awards.
The Corporation also engaged its Swachh Ambassadors to spread awareness. But the response appeared to be mixed.
Some residents say they did receive the messages but families with children, teens sought excuse saying that the young ones needed to be kept happy. A few other families celebrated but they had considerably cut down on the purchase.
Those who completely avoided bursting crackers were in a minority, said Timple Luloo, a Swachh Ambassador from Kurichi Housing Unit Phase II.
But all the residents had participated in cleaning the waste, she added.
A few environmentally conscious residents chose to plant saplings to celebrate Deepavali. S. Rajendar of Aringar Anna Colony in Ward 97 said his team planted palm saplings in the area and also near Perur.
Corporation officials said that the civic body engaged contract conservancy workers to remove waste across all the 100 wards on Sunday and send those to the Vellalore yard.
The complete conservancy work would resume on Monday when the permanent workers would resume duty.
