Celebrating festival is a joyous occasion that people love. But at what cost? Certain parts of the festivities harm the environment and disrupt the daily routine.
Flight operations were disrupted at Chennai airport on Saturday morning after smog reduced visibility to less than 50meterss. Bhogi bonfires lit by residents as part of the Pongal festival is considered to be the reason for the smog. Bhogi, celebrated ahead of the Tamil harvest festival Pongal on Sunday, involves burning of old articles in a symbolic gesture of bidding adieu to the old and welcoming the new.
More than 10 flights have been diverted to Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Coimbatore.
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A senior Airports Authority of India official said flight operations were expected to resume only after 9am.
“The last arrival was at 2.50am and the last departure was at 3am. All departures are holding while other airports have been informed to delay departures to Chennai,” he added.
The flights that were diverted to Bengaluru are an IndiGo flight from Dubai, an Air Arabia flight from Sharjah, Gulf Air from Bahrain and Air India from Dubai.
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A British Airways flight from London, an Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi, SpiceJet flights from Pune and Colombo and a Jet Airways flight from Mumbai were diverted to Hyderabad.
A Sri Lankan flight from Colombo returned midway.
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