Pledges, anti-cracker vows for green, eco-friendly Diwali go in vain

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, October 20

The anti-cracker rallies by school students and pledges by city residents to celebrate a pollution-free Diwali went up in flames as crackers were burnt recklessly in a number of residential areas on Diwali.

Like previous years, it was not at all a safe Diwali as several cases of eye injuries and skin burns were reported in various hospitals due to the burning of crackers and carelessness. Some patients had also to be operated upon to save their vision, while many others were reported having minor injuries.

Around eleven patients reached the local Civil Hospital with various types of injuries, including burns and eye injuries. A number of cases were also reported at private hospitals. A local eye hospital here treated about five patients with eye injuries, with one of them undergoing a severe surgery.

Doctors at the Civil Hospital said those lighting the crackers and also the onlookers did not take enough safety measures. “Precautions are not used by those who are lighting crackers. Even the onlookers need to be careful,” said the doctors. However, the number of patients recorded at the Civil Hospital this Diwali was less compared to last Diwali which was above 30,” according to doctors.

A doctor from a private eye hospital said, “We have been getting many patients of eye injuries for the past two days. There were a total of five severe eye injury cases reported on Diwali and a day before. Four patients after getting first-aid in hospitals were sent back to their respective places, while one of them had a severe injury and is admitted in a hospital for surgery.”

A 23-year-old boy Sanjiv was injured on Thursday night while he was bursting a bomb went in his hand. He was admitted to a private hospital here. He got his hand burnt and has an injured eye. He had perforation of the eye and cataract. He also caught infection as he reached hospital after a day of the incident.

Another patient Navneet Singh (19) of Bhagat Singh Colony, with an eye injury, reached the Civil Hospital at 1 am. He got minor burns and eye infection. He was bursting crackers with friends when he got injured, said doctors. They were placing a rocket in a bottle and as the rocket took a wrong direction, Navneet was injured, they added.

According to inquiries from about 10 private practitioners specialising in eyes, skin and chest, at least 12-15 cases related to the mishandling of crackers were reported on Diwali.

In most of the cases, the victims were in the age group of 10 to 30. While most of the victims were males, there was a case of a 32-year-old woman at a private hospital who received minor burns.