Chennai sources have stated that as many as 18 arriving flights were diverted to Bengaluru and Hyderabad airports. They flew in from various destinations such as Kuwait, Sharjah and Delhi. According to sources no flights took off during this period, resulting in delays and scores of passengers waiting at the airport.
Meanwhile a report had quoted a senior officer at the airport saying, “The visibility has dipped to 50 metres and since 3:30 am we have no flight activity and hopes there would be interested in an hour once breeze sets in clearing the air." 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.
Accordingly
the celebrations started on Saturday morning with people setting bonfires on
the streets with agricultural and household waste and bonfires made using mats,
paper, clothes and cardboard boxes dotted the streets of Chennai from as early
as four on Saturday morning.
