Air quality in Delhi and its suburbs dropped to the severe category again on Wednesday morning, with smoke from post-harvest paddy straw burning in neighbouring states accounting for one-third of the air pollution in the national capital.
Several states declared a holiday for schools, while government offices, other establishments and public sector banks remained closed for half a day.
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The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) also issued guidelines for implementation of the ban on firecrackers, which included directions to the Delhi Police to register a first information report against the violators of the ban.
The city's Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 420 at 8 am on Thursday, compared to 426 at 4 pm on Wednesday. The AQI map prepared by the Central Pollution Control Board showed clusters of red dots (indicating hazardous air quality) spread across the Indo-Gangetic plains.
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The air quality is expected to improve further due to wind speed favourable for the dispersion of pollutants.
With Delhi recording air pollution levels seven to eight times above safe standards on Monday, the city government announced the return of its flagship odd-even scheme after four years anticipating further deterioration of air quality post-Diwali.
The poisonous haze has been causing significant problems for people with existing respiratory issues, according to doctors.
The southern Italian city of Naples exploded into what was shaping up to be a long night of celebrations on Thursday as local team Napoli secured their first Serie A soccer title in more than three decades, sweeping away years of disappointment. The late Maradona is also still revered, celebrated on fans' t-shirts, banners or tattoos, and on a giant mural in Naples' Miracles Square that has become a major attraction in the countdown to the Scudetto.
Colourful lights illuminated buildings and earthen lamps dotted houses as people across the country celebrated Diwali with pomp on Monday after two years of muted festivities due to the pandemic.
The neighbouring cities of Faridabad (469), Greater Noida (464), Ghaziabad (470), Gurgaon (472) also recorded 'severe' air pollution levels.
The order was issued on Thursday by the deputy commissioner of police (operations) in view of inputs received by the police about disturbance of peace, law and order, danger to human life and property, the official said.
"If we burst firecrackers on this Diwali, we are playing with the lives of our children and families," he added.
In Jharsuguda, Dipali Das secured a total of 1,07,198 votes receiving 60.93 per cent of the votes polled, while Tripathy bagged 58,477 votes (33.24 per cent).
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The local police said they have lodged her complaint and started probe in the case.
There are hundreds of fan clubs -- in Jalgaon, Beed, Chennai, Kolkata, Akola, Yavatmal, Bengaluru, Sitamarhi, New York, Canada, Nigeria etc. Every Indian city/town or a major country has a fan club for the man whose fan base has been estimated at 3.5 billion by Time Magazine.
With the 30th anniversary of the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya and 65th death anniversary of Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar falling on December 6, the Mumbai police as a precautionary measure has announced prohibitory orders in Mumbai as part of its standard procedure from December 2 till January 2, 2023.
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This is the first time in 44 years that Sri Lanka's parliament has directly elected a president.
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The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to expand the eight-hour night-time ban period on bursting of crackers and voiced unhappiness over the government's failure to run a campaign to create public awareness during Diwali time on the ill-effects of fireworks.
The Chhattisgarh police have solved the case of a home theatre music system explosion in Kabirdham district and arrested the former lover of a newly married woman for allegedly planting a bomb in the electronic device with an intention to kill the couple, an official said on Wednesday.
A thin layer of toxic haze hung over Delhi in the morning and the overall air quality index stood at 313 at 9 am. It continued its upward trend and was recorded at 337 at 1 pm.
Declaring the organisational poll results to top two posts, party's election official C Ponnaiyan said Panneerselvam and Palaniswami were elected unanimously, without contest to the posts of Coordinator and Joint Coordinator respectively.
The latest blast occurred on Wednesday midnight behind the Guru Ramdas Niwas building, police said.
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The incident occurred when BJP members, all set to release the balloons, burst firecrackers while garlanding a farmers wing state level office-bearer, Muthuraman at Padi on Friday.
The Central Pollution Control Board on Monday reviewed the air quality in Delhi-NCR observing that the contribution of stubble burning may rise in the next five days with the AQI fluctuating between 'very poor' and 'severe' categories.
Delhi, which has gained infamy as one of the world's most polluted cities, has for some years now witnessed a sustained campaign from various quarters seeking a ban on firecrackers. While the Centre launched the newly approved, eco-friendly firecrackers earlier this month as a "safer and cheaper" alternative, the mood in the market is tepid, says Ritwik Sharma.
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Family members and friends of paddler Bhavina Patel broke into the traditional 'garba' dance, burst firecrackers and smeared each other with 'gulal' at her native Sundhiya village in Gujarat's Mehsana district to celebrate her historic silver medal at the Paralympic Games.
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) also expects that consumers may spend about Rs 2 lakh crore during the Diwali festival sale period. "Like previous year, this year too CAIT has given a call of 'boycott Chinese goods' and it is certain that China is going to suffer a business loss of about Rs 50,000 crore in terms of stoppage of import of chinese goods by Indian traders," CAIT stated.
On October 23, the top court said people in the country can only burst firecrackers from 8 pm to 10 pm on Diwali and other festivals. It also allowed the manufacture and sale of just "green crackers" which have low emission of light, sound and harmful chemicals. The apex court carved out an exception for Christmas and the New Year's Eve, saying crackers on these days could be burst between 11.55 pm and 12.30 am since the celebrations start at midnight.
The leader said he was not violating the Supreme Court's order banning the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR this Diwali.
The non-viability of green crackers may pave the way for e-crackers.
The owner of a Sivakasi cracker manufacturing unit where a fire on September 5 claimed 39 lives was arrested on Sunday on culpable homicide not amounting to murder and other charges from Samayanallur in this district.
