Diwali celebrations in New Jersey: Viral video of firefighters dousing crackers draws mixed response
New Jersey: A viral video of firefighters spraying water in an area of a street where a Diwali cracker had been burst has attracted mixed reactions from netizens in spite of a clarification by the person who posted the clip that it was a safety measure.
The clip, shared by an Indian living in New Jersey, Mukul Verma, on his Instagram page, shows Indians celebrating Diwali by bursting crackers on a street before the firefighters intervened to spray water in the area.
Some social media users took the action by the firefighters in good spirit; some welcomed it and also criticized Indians for not changing their thinking style. A few netizens criticized the move, saying Indians were not permitted to celebrate their festivals.
A user reminded that local laws were not to be broken and any action that makes native people uncomfortable was not to be taken, as it would only spread more hatred for Indians and lead to unnecessary closure of job and education opportunities for all.
“It's really surprising that we Indians can't really mend our ways. Either it's in India or foreign lands we behave in a same manner and then we say that the worldwide criticism that we receive is not right (sic),” said another netizen.
On the other hand, a user took objection, saying Americans too burst crackers during New Year.
Verma posted a response in the comments sections supporting the firefighters, saying, “Just to clarify — this Diwali celebration was fully permitted by the state, and fireworks were officially allowed. All safety measures like roadblocks, ambulance & fire brigade were arranged by the city. Someone from the crowd suddenly lit skyshots which weren’t allowed, so the fire brigade sprayed water only for safety — not to stop Diwali. The police were managing the crowd. Please don’t spread hate; Diwali is about light, love & unity (sic)”
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Indigo cancels 67 flights from multiple airports due to bad weather, operational issues
Mumbai (PTI): Domestic carrier IndiGo on Thursday cancelled 67 flights from multiple airports due to "forecasted" bad weather and operational reasons, according to the airline's website.
Of the 67 cancelled flights, only four were for operational reasons, and the rest were due to "forecasted" bad weather at various airports, including Agartala, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Varanasi, Bengaluru, among others, as per the website.
Aviation regulator, DGCA, has announced the period between December 10 and February 10 next year as the official fog window this winter.
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As part of the DGCA fog operations (CAT-IIIB) norms, airlines have to mandatorily roster pilots who are trained to operate in low-visibility conditions, as well as deploy a CAT-IIIB-compliant aircraft fleet for such operations.
Category-III is an advanced navigation system that empowers an aircraft to land under foggy conditions.
Category-III-A is a precision instrument approach and landing that enables a plane to land with a runway visual range (RVR) of 200 metres, while Category-III-B helps in landing with an RVR of under 50 metres.
IndiGo, whose operations are under DGCA monitoring after the cancellations of thousands of flights early this month, is already operating a curtailed schedule in compliance with the government's order.
Under its original winter flight schedule, the airline was permitted to operate 15,014 domestic flights per week, or about 2,144 flights per day, roughly six per cent higher than the 14,158 weekly flights it operated during the summer schedule of 2025.
However, after the massive disruptions, which saw the airline cancelling 1,600 flights on a single day on account of new rest norms for pilots, which allow more rest to the pilots, the government cut down the airline's domestic flight schedule by 10 per cent or 214 flights per day.
As a result of that, IndiGo can't operate more than 1,930 flights per day on domestic routes under its current winter schedule.
The Rahul Bhatia-controlled airline cancelled thousands of flights between December 1 and December 9 on account of a lack of proper planning, and crew shortage in implementing the new set of regulations for pilots' duty period and rest, which were put in place from November 1, thereby causing severe hardships to lakhs of air travellers.
Following this, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) formed a four-member panel, comprising Joint DG Sanjay Brahamane, Deputy Director General Amit Gupta, senior Flight Operations Inspector Kapil Manglik, and FOI Lokesh Rampal, with a mandate to identify the root causes of widespread operational disruptions at the Rahul Bhatia-controlled domestic carrier.
The panel, which has already grilled IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers and Chief Operating Officer Isidre Porqueras as part of its probe, is expected to submit its report by this week.
Meanwhile, IndiGo, in a travel advisory on X, said, "Low visibility and fog over Bangalore has impacted flight schedule. We are keeping a close watch on the weather and doing our best where you need to be safely, smoothly".
Reacting to the advisory, an aggrieved passenger, in an X post, said, "My flight on December 20 from Bhubaneswar to Ahmedabad got delayed for more than five hours, and today my return flight from Ahmedabad to Bhubaneswar also got delayed more than three hours with the same excuse as bad weather. I am travelling with my senior citizen parents, and this delay is not acceptable. Need proper explanation, along with compensation".
