kolkata desperate times warrant radical measures environmentalists have appealed to the public to shun all kinds of fireworks including lowdecibel ones this year as rising air pollution will defeat us in the fight against covid19 they said that air and noise pollution during diwali would be equally detrimental for covid patientsa covid19 patient whether at home or at hospital will have to breathe the polluted air since the disease takes a huge toll on the patients respiratory system the polluted air will wreak their lungs it is time to completely give up fireworks said pradeep kakkar an environment crusader and founder of people united for better living in calcutta public environmentalists said that the total boycott of fireworks can only be achieved if all stakeholders such as enforcement agencies like police regulatory bodies like west bengal pollution control board wbpcb and citizens take air pollution seriously any firework irrespective of whether it is highdecibel or lowdecibel will end up polluting the air this year the government must ensure that no baazi bazar comes up said subhas datta another fighter against pollutionin fact over the last few years on kali puja diwali night the citys air quality has been irreversibly damaged with the pm25 count spiking beyond 1000gm3 microgram per cubic metre which is 17 times poorer than the safe limit the safe limit is 60gm3 according to our national air quality standard and 25gm3 according to the world health organization who pm25 which is 130th the average width of a human hair goes straight into the lungs and from there enters the bloodstreamnaba datta secretary of sabuj mancha a platform for ngos and individuals fighting against environmental degradation said it is no longer a choice it is about life and death a moment of joy over lighting a firework will dearly cost everyone a senior wbpcb scientist admitted that the load of pollutants on diwali night will take a long time to disperse as the festival has come late this year the inversion of temperature will lower the vertical wind movement trapping the pollutants at breathable height such exposure is quite lethal for a healthy individual just imagine the plight of a person with an infected lung he said