The ban on firecrackers in 13 Uttar Pradesh cities proved ineffectiveas people burst crackers with a vengeance on Diwali night. The air quality index in Lucknow zoomed to 881 by midnight and settled at 427 on Sunday morning.
The national capital recorded 7,340 Covid-19 cases in a day taking the infection tally to over 4.82 lakh on Saturday, while 96 new fatalities during the same period pushed the death toll in the city to 7,519, authorities said.
With safety at stake, many in the national capital defied the cracker-ban, turning the air quality in the region to "severe" with stubble burning accounting for 32 per cent of Delhi's PM2.5 pollution. At Air Quality Index (AQI) at 414, Delhi recorded the worst air quality in four years. Last year, the city recorded a 24-hour average AQI of 337 on Diwali last year and 268 and 400 in the subsequent two days. In 2018, the 24-hour average AQI was 281 on Diwali, deteriorated to 390 the next day and remained "severe" on three consecutive days. Likewise in 2019, Delhi's 24-hour average AQI on Diwali was 319. Earlier, the Ministry of Earth Sciences' air quality monitor, SAFAR, had said that the PM2.5 concentration in Delhi on Diwali was "likely to be the lowest" of the last four years if no firecrackers were burnt. 
Lights decked up buildings and earthen lamps dotted houses as India celebrated Diwali on Saturday amid COVID-19 restrictions and a ban on bursting of firecrackers in several states. Prayers were offered and sweets distributed though people mostly took the virtual route to extend wishes. People also visited temples, observing social distancing norms. Kali puja was celebrated in several states, including West Bengal where people visited Kali temples since the morning to pay obeisance to the deity.
India on Saturday summoned the Charge d'Affaires of the Pakistan High Commission and lodged a strong protest with him over the unprovoked ceasefire violations by Pakistani forces on multiple sectors along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir targeting innocent civilians on the eve of Diwali. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) condemned, in the strongest terms, the "deliberate targeting" of innocent civilians by Pakistani forces and said it was highly deplorable that Pakistan chose a festive occasion in India to disrupt peace and perpetrate violence in Jammu and Kashmir through coordinated firing along the LoC.
Like any movie scene, two Madhya Pradesh policemen found their former colleague begging on the footpath, who had disappeared around 15 years ago. He was found to be mentally disturbed.
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