THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With just two days to go for Deepavali, the Kerala State Pollution Control Board has mandated that only eco-friendly ‘green crackers’ shall be sold and used for celebration.
As per its direction, the time period for bursting crackers has been restricted between 7pm and 10pm on Deepavali, which falls on Thursday.
However, bursting of crackers would not be allowed within 100 metres radial distance of locations marked silence zones -- hospitals, courts, educational institutions and places of worship.
Green crackers, as defined by CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), do not contain aluminium, barium, potassium nitrate or carbon. This means less pollution emission resulting in reduced air pollution.