Chennai, Nov 10:
The Greater Chennai Police registered 237 cases on Sunday against individuals and commercial operators for flouting statutory time limits and safety regulations during Deepavali celebrations across the city.
The enforcement drive focused on compliance with time slots permitted by the Supreme Court and the state government, which restricted firecracker bursting to between 6 am and 7 am in the morning and 7 pm and 8 pm in the evening. Cases were also registered against retail outlets and individuals found storing or bursting banned high-decibel explosives and joined crackers in crowded residential pockets and silent zones near hospitals.
Flying squads and static checkpoints deployed across Chennai, Tambaram, and Avadi police commissionerate limits monitored neighbourhoods throughout the night. Officers seized unauthorized stocks and registered FIRs under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Explosives Act, and the Environment Protection Act, while issuing formal cautions to commercial vendors regarding storage permissions.