The Hindu : New Delhi News : Diwali celebrated amid fun, fervour and security

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 10, 2007
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New Delhi

New Delhi

Diwali celebrated amid fun, fervour and security

Staff Reporter

Roads looked deserted in evening as people reached home early

Photo: AP

Diwali gift: President Pratibha Patil distributing sweets-boxes to schoolchildren at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Friday.

NEW DELHI: The long-running campaign to discourage use of firecrackers notwithstanding, the sparkling festival of Diwali was celebrated with traditional fervour and gaiety in the Capital and elsewhere across the country on Friday with people turning out in new clothes, exchanging sweets and gifts, lighting colourful earthen lamps and bursting crackers.

Illuminated markets bustled with activity as people made last-minute purchases for the festival of lights. However, most roads in the Capital wore a deserted look by evening as people made sure that they reached home in time for Laskhmi Puja that is said to bring good luck, prosperity and happiness.

“There were very few people on the Delhi Metro network when I was returning home from Rithala to Welcome area around 6-30 in the evening. It was good also to see that traffic on the normally overcrowded roads too was thin,” said Vineet Srivastava, a resident of Anand Vihar in East Delhi.

Bursting of crackers began early in the evening in several residential colonies of the city. People could also be seen thronging places of worship to perform puja on the auspicious occasion.

To tackle fire-related incidents, the Fire Service in the capital deployed one fire tender each in 17 fire-prone areas including South Extension, Lajpat Nagar Central Market, Lal Kuan Chowk, Lahori Gate, Tilak Nagar, Nangloi, Azad Market Chowk, Sonia Vihar, Vasundhra Enclave, Vivek Vihar, Mehrauli, Vasant Kunj and Alipur.

Security arrangements were tight as the police stepped up patrolling at crowded places like shopping malls and markets, while additional units of the Railway Protection Force and paramilitary forces were deployed at the railway stations.

With painful memories of the pre-Diwali blasts that rocked the Capital two years ago still fresh, special attention was paid to security arrangements in prominent local markets like Paharganj, Sarojini Nagar and Lajpat Nagar where metal detectors were in place at various points.

Meanwhile, to measure the environmental impact of crackers and fireworks during Diwali, the Central Pollution Control Board conducted ambient noise and air quality tests at various locations in the Capital. A pre-Diwali ambient noise test for comparison has already been carried out at ten locations -- Connaught Place, India Gate, Mayur Vihar, All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Friends Colony, Raja Garden, Pitampura, Model Town, Lajpat Nagar and East Arjun Nagar -- between 6 p.m. and midnight.

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