GRIM DIWALI FOR FARMERS IN AURANGABAD

New Delhi, Oct. 28: At least nine people were killed in fireworks related incidents, including gutting of houses and shops, on Diwali across the country, while scores of others poured into hospitals with burns, eye injuries and other complaints.

However, the decline in such casualties in the national capital since the Supreme Court imposed restrictions on sale of firecrackers in 2017 continued. It was a busy night for the firefighters with the Delhi Fire Service alone responding to over 300 calls, including fires at garbage dumps due to bursting crackers, officials said on Monday.

According to Sawai Man Singh Hospital in Jaipur, 498 patients with burns, eye injuries and other complaints due to firecrackers arrived in its OPD department out of which 142 were admitted and 108 were emergency cases. As many as 31 patients have been treated for burn injuries at the Kilpauk Government Medical College Hospital in Chennai.

Among them was a young man whose thumb and index finger were partially amputated.

There was a massive fire at Golbazar vegetable market in Sambalpur where 80 shops were damaged.

Another blaze was reported at Khantapada in Balasore district in which a footwear shop was gutted.

In Dhenkanal, a garment godown was destroyed due to fire But major hospitals in the national capital reported lesser number of injuries this Diwali than the previous years. Centrerun Safdarjung Hospital, which has the largest burn unit in the country, received 62 patients who had suffered Diwali festivities related burn injuries out of which 11 patients were admitted.

The RML Hospital received 22 patients. All of them had suffered minor burns due to bursting of crackers. None of the patients had to be admitted.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) received only two burn injury cases related to Diwali last night and there were no admissions, a senior official said.

Due to pollution concerns, there is a Supreme Court-enforced two-hour

Aurangabad, Oct. 28: Maize and cotton growers in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district did not celebrate Diwali this year as their crops were destroyed due to heavy post monsoon showers.

While the district, located in the perennially parched Marathwada region, got deficient downpour during this year’s rainy season, it received excess post monsoon showers in the last one week, a government official said.

“Last year, pests ate 60 to

70 per cent of our cotton crop. This year, excess rains damaged both cotton and maize crops. Only

10 to 15 per cent of the crops can be reaped now,” said Ishwar Sapkal, a farmer from Soyegaon taluka.