Defying a ban and warnings by the police and continued requests and campaigns by the police, Fire Service, netizens, and animal rights activists, the use of firecrackers, sky lanterns, and loudspeakers on this New Year’s Eve went unchecked.
Not only the capital, but all major cities of the country experienced this unwanted perennial situation. Similar celebrations also caused massive disturbances in countless villages.
The national emergency hotline 999 was inundated with 971 calls from across Bangladesh reporting loud music and noise pollution during the celebrations from late on Sunday and around noon yesterday.
Adding to the woes, a teenager was killed and three boys sustained burn wounds in separate incidents as they were celebrating the once-a-year occasion.
Miraj Hossain, 17, died as he contacted a live electric wire while setting up a loudspeaker in Gazipur’s Kaliganj upazila, said Kaliganj police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mahatab Uddin.
The incident took place at around 8:45pm on Sunday in his house in Tumlia Union of the upazila, he added.
Minhaj, the elder brother of the deceased, said that Miraj was electrocuted when he went to connect electricity to the sound box to organize a party on New Year’s Eve.
Locals rushed Miraj to Kaliganj Upazila Health Complex at 9pm, where doctors declared him dead.
The body was handed over to the family members without an autopsy, as they did not file any complaints.
In Dhaka, three adolescents from the same family sustained burn injuries while they were releasing sky lanterns into the sky for New Year celebrations in Kamrangirchar early yesterday.
The injured are 14-year-old Md Siam and his 17-year-old twin uncles, Md Rakib Hossain and Md Raihan.
They were rushed to Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, with Siam in a critical condition.
Md Tarikul Islam, a resident physician at the institute, said 88% of the surface area of Siam’s body had been burned, compared to Rakib’s 6% and Raihan’s 2%.
The twins were discharged after primary treatment.
Also in Old Dhaka, a fire broke out in a shop in the Nazirabazar area in the early hours of yesterday. However, no casualties were reported in the incident, as three firefighting units immediately doused the blaze.
The fire at the shop, located near the famous Beauty Lacchi and Faluda shop, was brought under control at 12:42am, said the fire service.
Efforts to stop it all
On December 19, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) banned all kinds of fireworks and sky lanterns in Dhaka on the occasion of Christmas and New Year’s Eve. The ban will be in place until further notice, the DMP said at that time.
In fact, the buying and selling of fireworks, crackers, and sky lanterns were strictly prohibited throughout the city, according to the DMP, which on Saturday urged the city dwellers not to hold any programs in open spaces during the 31st night to celebrate the English New Year.
DMP Detective Branch chief Additional Police Commissioner Harunor Rashid said on Sunday that a case will be filed under the Explosives Act against anyone who lights firecrackers or sky lanterns despite the ban.
The Fire Service and Civil Defence urged the people on Sunday to refrain from setting off fireworks and flying sky lanterns on New Year’s Eve.
It also shared leaflets and video clips on its official Facebook page and YouTube to increase awareness.
On Friday, animal rights activists and lovers formed a human chain demanding fireworks and lanterns be avoided in the New Year’s celebrations.
Metro rail affected again
Just like last year, at least 40 flying lanterns, which were lit during the New Year’s celebration, got stuck in the electric wires in different parts of the metro rail service in Dhaka.
The metro rail workers inspected different places of all 16 stations from 3am to keep the train movement normal.
Mohammad Iftikhar Hossain, general manager (operation) of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited, said: "It was a new experience for us to remove flying lanterns from the metro rail’s electric wires last year.
At that time, the metro rail movement was also disrupted. So this year we were prepared, and the staff went around different stations and lines and removed lanterns stuck in the wires of the metro rail.”
On Thursday, the authorities urged people not to use sky lanterns or similar objects on the metro rail route and its vicinity during the New Year’s celebration.
On January 1, 2023, metro rail services were suspended for two hours after authorities removed sky lanterns that had fallen on electric wires.
Calls on 999
Inspector Anwar Sattar, public relations officer of the service, said 237 of these complaints had originated from residents in the Dhaka metropolitan area alone.
The surge in complaints saw 526 calls by midnight, with an additional 445 coming in between midnight and noon on Monday.
In response to the complaints, police went to the reported locations, taking action to halt the music blaring from loudspeakers.
Harrowing data
According to the fire service, nearly 100 fire incidents occurred on the night of December 31, 2022, due to fireworks and flying lanterns, causing an estimated damage of Tk19.75 lakh.
In 2021, 16 fire incidents caused damage worth about Tk4.5 lakh due to these activities, and a child named Tanzim Umayar, also known as Mahmudul Hasan, died due to the loud noise of the fireworks.
In 2020, some 50 fire incidents caused damage worth approximately Tk14.35 lakh, in 2019, 72 incidents caused around Tk14.47 lakh, and in 2018, 42 incidents resulted in damage of about Tk56.6 lakh.
