In a gross violation of a Supreme Court (SC) order, people in Delhi burst around 5 million kilograms of firecrackers on Diwali night, well past the permissible time limit.
This caused the air quality in several parts of the city to dip to “very unhealthy” levels.
Despite the two-hour window to burst only green crackers ordered by the apex court, Delhiites did not adhere to the 10pm deadline and continued to set off firecrackers till late midnight.
A report by research group Urban Emissions said around 50,00,000 kgs of firecrackers were used in Delhi this year, the same amount as burnt last year.