In Mohali, police caught napping

Akash Ghai

Tribune News Service

Mohali, November 8 

The local police were caught napping while residents violated the apex court’s order on bursting of firecrackers across the town even after midnight.

The police arrested three persons under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code for bursting crackers after the deadline. Two cases were registered at the Phase 1 police station today while one case was registered against a resident of Sector 77 at the Sohana police station here last night. In the former case, those booked were identified as Deepak and Gagan, who were caught bursting crackers at the Industrial Area, Phase 7. 

The three offenders were later released on bail.

People residing in different areas of the town informed that firecrackers were burst after midnight and there was no policeman in sight to check the flouting of the SC ban.

“We were expecting police patrolling on internal roads to check bursting of crackers on roads after 10 pm but we found nobody in our area. People continued their noisy celebrations till midnight,” said Pankaj Pathak, a local resident. 

Paramjit Singh, a resident at Phase 7 here, claimed that some persons continued bursting crackers till around 2 am in their area. “No PCR or police party came to our area to check the violation,” he claimed. However, residents found the intensity of cracker bursting lesser this year.

“Though violation of the apex court’s order was rampant across the town, intensity of bursting crackers was certainly lower than what it was in the town during the past few years,” claimed the residents.

“We also noticed a dip in the pollution level in our area on the Diwali night this year in comparison to the years before,” claimed Rajesh Kumar, a local resident.