Tamil Nadu: 700 booked for bursting crackers outside time slot

Chennai, Nov 7: As the southern states celebrated Diwali on Tuesday, the Tamil Nadu police was seen on a major crackdown against violators.

According to the reports 622 cases were registered against 700 persons by the police for bursting firecrackers outside the time slot fixed by the state government.

Reportedly, the police have booked the violators under the Sections 291(Continuance of nuisance after injunction to discontinue), and 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 268 (public nuisance) of the Indian Penal Code. However, in some districts, only FIR's were lodged against the accused and they were soon let out on bail.

Villupuram highest

According to a News Minute report, in the Villupuram district, 80 people were booked for bursting crackers-highest in the state so far. Virudhunagar police booked 40 people, 30 people were booked in Coimbatore, 20 people were booked in Dindigul, 11 booked in Madurai, 10 booked in Cuddalore. Followed by six in Tirunelveli, two in Chennai and one in each Namakkal and Nagercoil.

Villagers go for green Diwali

In Trichy district's Thoppupatti and Saampatti, villagers desist from bursting crackers as the bats that live on the trees of their village get disturb due to the noise of crackers.

The villages, which houses over 500 families, have an ancient banyan tree on which hundreds of bats roost amidst the branches. Locals say the fruit bats came to the villages twenty five years ago.

TN time slot for bursting crackers

The Tamil Nadu government said people in the state would be allowed to burst firecrackers between 6 am and 7 am and 7 pm and 8 pm on Diwali, in line with the Supreme Court directive.

The government has issued a set of guidelines regarding bursting of crackers, including avoiding certain types of fireworks.

It also appealed to Diwali revellers to give up crackers with high decibel and pollution levels and avoid bursting firecrackers near hospitals, places of worship, near huts and other facilities that could easily catch fire.

Photo credit: PTI