Burns cases come down to 683 this year

“On the day of Deepavali, around six animals were injured. In Porur, scared by the sound of crackers a bull ran and fell into drainage, and stayed inside for the whole night. We rescued it on Monday morning after receiving an alert. A dog lost its eye due to crackers in Besant Nagar. The other animals ran in panic due to the noise and burns, came under the wheels of vehicles,” said Dawn Williams, general manager, Blue Cross of India.

Noting that the organisation had received 25 calls last year, he added: “There is vast difference compared to last year Deepavali.” Animal activists had conducted awareness campaigns at schools and colleges on how animals were affected, and what could be done to save them. “We received positive responses, including reports that some people allowed stray dogs to stay in their house premises during bursting of firecrackers. They were also urged to burst crackers without hurting the animals. Only 2 or 3 dogs had to be rescued this Deepavali,” added Dinesh M, animal activist. There were fewer complaints in the suburbs, too. “I got two stray dogs, which suffered minor injuries, treated at Tiruvallur on Sunday. For the last two years, I received more than 15 rescues during Deepavali based on complaints through social media and phone calls. This year there were not many complaints,” said Sai Vignesh, founder of Almighty AnimalCare Trust.

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As the Deepavali celebrations wound up, officials said 683 people, including nearly 50 in Chennai, suffered minor burns while bursting crackers on Saturday and Sunday. Among the injured persons, 80 were admitted as inpatients at hospitals across TN, officials added. In all, 128 fire calls were reported across the State on Deepavali day, while there were 43 distress calls in the city against 100 calls reported last year. As per information from the fire control room, four trees, including three coconut trees, were damaged after rockets hit them. The TN police registered 497 cases for violation of the SC order on bursting firecrackers, much lesser than the 2,176 cases last year. Of them, 179 were registered in Chennai, as against 359 cases in 2018. Kancheepuram police registered no cases and the Tiruvallur police registered 67 cases. “In north Chennai, 35 cases were registered while it was 99 cases in west Chennai. In south Chennai police registered 9 cases while in another 36 cases were registered in east Chennai for violating the restriction on timing,” police said on Monday.