DNA Edit: Unique Diwali - Policemen and activists have a busy Wednesday ahead

This Diwali has to be unique, in more ways than one. A day before the festival of lights overwhelms the capital city, there is a beehive of activity of the most unusual type.

Delhi Police and its SHOs have been instructed to keep their antennas up and act against complaints about fire crackers being burst. About 655 kg of firecrackers have been seized from three places and more such crackdowns can be expected in the next 24 hours or more.

There is unending speculation about how the little under 85,000-strong Delhi Police force - deployed more for protecting VIPs than its common citizens - would be able to enforce this catch all apex court order in an area that includes 11 million citizens, according to the 2011 National Census.

There is a good chance that this number has gone up considerably since then. These questions beg answers that are going to be available only on the D-Day, but privately policemen are dreading the thought of executing an order such as this to perfection.

In the city’s crowded lanes and by-lanes, in the unauthorised colonies whose outlay is known only to those who live there, in the vast suburban colonies and even posh South Delhi gated neighbourhoods, who can ever say with precision where a cracker has been burst?

There is simply not enough police force to launch an operation on such a gargantuan scale. There is also speculation that the capital’s busy bees, the activists and the NGOs will scour the land for infringements and report them to the police.

Look at it any way, the stage is set for huge drama and action, mostly unconnected to the great festival, as Diwali has been known over the centuries. The news on the pollution front is not exactly spectacular. Delhi woke up to an air quality index of 367 on Monday with experts predicting it could get worse on Tuesday. The obvious question is this: what will happen on Wednesday?