Three children responsible for the ban on firecrackers in Delhi this Diwali now aim to make India firecracker free.
A fresh plea was filed in the Supreme Court today, requesting a nationwide ban on the sale of firecrackers extending the prevailing ban in Delhi.
Arjun Gopal, Aarav Bhandari and Zoya Rao Bhasin in their application pray for the ban on the possession, sale and bursting of fireworks across the country. Despite the ban, the pollution level in the Delhi-NCR region has dangerously increased after Diwali, keeping in view this point the extension on of the prevailing ban can be made feels the counsel appearing for petitioner.
A day after Diwali, major cities recorded very high level of pollution with the air quality dropping dangerously low. Not just Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata woke up to a smog-filled morning after celebrating the festival. The number of children having eye problems due the pollution and smoke from firecrackers was also a cause for concern across the nation.
With the upcoming wedding season in the country, the demand for firecrackers will once again shoot up until later in Christmas and New Years' eve about which the applicants in their plea share a concern saying "as the wedding season commences from 1.11.2017, there is going to be a substantial demand for fireworks at the worst time for the city’s air. This will continue until January and February through Christmas and New Year where the effects of the will remain for several days due to winter weather conditions" as reported in LiveLaw.in.
In the application, a request for a dedicated police helpline for lodging complaints in this regard about people flouting the norms has also been made.
While passing its initial order of banning the firecrackers in Delhi till October 31, the court had said it was an experiment to see whether the ban would bring down pollution levels in the region. But according to Urban Emissions, a research group, the ban had no major impact on the air quality in Delhi-NCR as reported by the Hindu today.