Activist Sanjeev Sankhla said that he conducted a special drive in some residential areas to make people aware of the harms of firecrackers.
Air pollution caused by firecrackers this Diwali led to a rise of 20 per cent in number of people suffering from pollution-related bronchitis in the city.
According to experts, the rise was due to heavy use of crackers that had less noise but produced high fume.
"About 50 patients have been coming here every day since Diwali with complaints of running nose, sneezing, irritation in eyes, soar throat and difficulty in breathing. The number this year is nearly 20-25 per cent more than previous years," Dr Narendra Khippal, Professor at the Institute of Respiratory Diseases, SMS Government Medical College, told PTI.
"Composition of chemicals in fireworks is getting dangerous and causing health-related problems, particularly in breathing and lung-related diseases. The composition even involves lead and mercury that are causing harm in conjunctiva, mucous membrane and nasal membrane," he said.
"Symptoms in patients this year indicate that they were in close contact with smoke of firecrackers and they inhaled it for a longer duration leading to bronchitis. People have started avoiding high noise creating firecrackers and are instead choosing less noise generating and fancy firework which produce more smoke," Dr Khippal said.
Bronchitis is an inflammation or swelling of the bronchial tubes (bronchi), the air passages between nose and lungs.
"Patients with problem in breathing, soar throat and other related problems remained high yesterday and the reason behind it was mainly pollution due to firecrackers on night of Diwali," Dr Swati Goswami, a homeopathic practitioner, said.
Zaheer Ahemdad, a firecrackers trader on Hawamahal Road, said the demand for fancy firecrackers was slightly on higher side. "The sale of firecrackers with high sound was less as compared to previous years and people bought those which can be lit and held in hand. However, the overall sale was also less than the last year," Mr Ahemdad said.
Activist Sanjeev Sankhla said that he conducted a special drive in some residential areas to make people aware of the harms of firecrackers.
"Air quality has deteriorated badly in the last two days and affecting environment as well as people's health, particularly that of children," he said.