Several of the city’s Leading Doctors, Medical Associations and Environmental Experts part of the Bengal Clean Air Network (Bengal-CAN) under the aegis of SwitchON Foundation, have collectively submitted a letter to the Chief Minister of West Bengal on the need for a safer and cleaner festive season. The letter sent to the chief minister has requested a complete ban on firecrackers like last year, since quality of air really starts deteriorating after the firecracker diwali until tuesday where cities and towns across West bengal become a gas chamber. The letter also raises the issue of the COVID – 19 pandemic and henceforth, the steady rise in cases which was noticed. Studies have shown the rise mentioned above to be directly linked to the rise in the level of pollutants in the air. The signatories offered support on their part to the administration, at generating awareness about pollution caused by air pollution amidst fellow citizens. The upcoming winters pose a problem in West Bengal and hence, there is a necessity for a pollution-free Diwali celebration this year round.
The letter was also signed by doctors from Association of Radiation Oncologists of India, Society of Emergency Medicine India, South Asian Medical Students Association, and other leading NGOs like SwitchON Foundation, Greenpeace, Rainforest Alliance, TSHED, Y-East etc. who have come forth and added their valuable suggestions on best ways to transform this festive season into a memorable one, without having anyone face the aftermath of respiratory diseases usually following the festive season just after Diwali.
Suman Mallik, Vice President AROI, also a signatory of the letter said, “The extensive use of firecrackers during Diwali festival leads to 5 to 20 times increase in air pollutants, and since they are associated with serious adverse health impacts, the use of fireworks during in this kind of festival in a highly populated city like Kolkata needs to be controlled. Diwali should show us the lights for a better and healthy future.”
Mr. Vinay Jaju, MD of SwitchON Foundation and Convenor of Bengal-CAN said “As concerned citizens, we have urged the Chief Minister to ban firecrackers completely as was done last year. Burning crackers incessantly make air quality very poor and lead us to an irreversible scenario of polluted air through winter – severely impacting the health of children, elderly and vulnerable.”
Further, studies released have also clearly stated that even a single point rise in the level of air pollution can easily help in the rise of COVID 19 cases by 6-7%. Studies therefore, support that air pollution and COVID are intrinsically linked with 15% COVID 19 deaths being aggravated with pollution in place worldwide. In 2018 the Supreme Court Directed the Centre that the sale and manufacturing of firecrackers be banned completely which was implemented in states like Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Delhi, Haryana,Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh last year. This move was a good effort to bring down air pollution levels in the respective cities and contain COVID infection spread. Therefore, it is high time we make the switch to a celebration which is sustainable in nature, which makes a complete ban on crackers as the way forward.
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