Around 44 tonnes of waste was generated during Deepavali celebrations in Udhagamandalam Municipality, officials said.
The amount of waste generated was more than three times the amount of waste that gets generated each day, mostly from households and the Udhagamandalam Municipal Market.
Almost all sanitary staff were mobilised in a large-scale clean-up operation that continued till the weekend, officials said.
“The amount of waste collected this year was significantly higher than in 2018,” officials said.
Only 21 tonnes of waste was collected three years back.
The district administration, Forest Department and others had issued guidelines to not light fireworks for more than 2 hours on Deepavali.
However, none of the rules were followed, said G. Janardhanan, president of the Ooty Public Awareness Association.
“Most people disregarded the rules, which really cannot be enforced very strictly. It is up to people to realise that lighting fireworks, especially in an ecologically-sensitive area like the Nilgiris will have a huge impact on wildlife, causing distress and harm to them,” he said.
Mr. Janardhanan said that at the very least, residential areas bordering reserve forests need to be monitored and people prevented from lighting fireworks.
