It was a cracker of a Deepavali on Saturday night in Hyderabad as the citizens celebrated the festival of lights with gusto. The last-minute easing of a ban on crackers helped.
The two-hour time band and the limited use of green crackers was observed more in the breach as youngsters started lighting up right from 6 p.m. and stretched to beyond 10 p.m. permitted by the Supreme Court .
The bursting of crackers saw a sharp spike in pollution levels across the city changing the levels from moderate to unhealthy for sensitive groups. The air had a sulphurous acrid tinge by 9 p.m. in many residential areas and apartment complexes throughout the city. Sanathnagar was the worst affected as superfine particulate matter pollution of PM2.5 topped 574 ug/m3 at 10.30 p.m. It was nearly 10 times the ambient air quality standard of 40-60 ug/m3 set by the Central Pollution Control Board. By 11 p.m., the PM2.5 levels dipped to 366 ug/m3. However, the sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and other hazardous pollutants remained at the normal level. A lower than normal wind speed of 10.8 km per hour aggravated the pollution levels.
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Citizens who took to social media to raise the issue of bursting of crackers beyond the time band and the decibel level had to face vile trolling.