30 DIE IN BIHAR DURING CHHATH FESTIVITIES

PATNA: A total of 30 people, including 18 children, died in separate incidents of wall collapse, stampede and drowning in different parts of Bihar during the Chhath festival that concluded on Sunday, police said.

Two women were killed when a portion of the wall of a temple collapsed on Sunday morning at in Samastipur district, Hasanpur police station SHO Chandrakant Gauri said.

In another incident, two children were killed in a stampede near Suryakund, Aurangabad District Magistrate Rahul Ranjan Mahiwal said. Officials familiar with the matter said the stampede occurred as the turnout at Deo’s Surya temple for Chhath Puja was “beyond” the local administration’s the expectation.

In drowning incidents, a 35-year-old man died in a pond at Khajuri village in Samastipur district, Sarairanjanj block development officer (BDO) Gangasagar Singh said.

Three children drowned in ponds while two others were saved at separate Chhath ghats under S Kamal and Mufassil police station areas of Begusarai district.

Four persons drowned and one has gone missing in different ponds on Saturday in Bhagalpur. A total of 18 people, including 10 minors also drowned in Vishali, Purnea and Khagaria districts during the festival, the officials said on condition of anonymity.

NEW DELHI: Masks are complex, if you’re using them to fight air pollution. As North India is haze-hit and it moves eastwards, many of us look out for masks. I won’t talk about which mask-n95s are available for lower prices - but do they work for everyone?

Leading doctors have gone public about how masks must fit well, without air leakage, to be effective. That’s hard, because all of us have differently contoured faces, so one cannot expect to find the perfect fit.

Besides, correctly worn masks trap carbon-dioxide, so you feel suffocated. CO2 also impacts the brain. But if you let air into your mask then you’ve taken in pollution. It is almost impossible to fit on your mask well and exercise or work. Workers report that they cannot garden with a well-fitting mask, or be heard clearly, or move constantly.

These challenges aside, masks prevent some pollution from entering your bloodstream — a positive outcome. Given how vulnerable young children and the elderly are, we must minimize their exposure. I believe even an imperfect N 95 mask is OK in such trying times.

Having said all this, it’s all not OK to turn to masks as a policy prescription—it hides the shortcomings and offers a false sense of security. For policy makers, for leaders, what we expect is to take on the big challenges, like public transport and construction. We don’t need a semi-solution that we can muddle along with ourselves. Politicos shouldn’t turn into desperate citizens when things turn grim.