The onset of winter brings a public health crisis for the city’s residents in terms of inferior air quality every year. The crisis is exacerbated since the paddy straw burning season in Punjab and Haryana coincides with Diwali. The hazardous cocktail of toxic air in the city leads to the AQI plummeting below 400 and even 450, which falls in the ‘severe’ and ‘severe-plus’ category.
To curb the menace, the Supreme Court banned the bursting of conventional firecrackers in 2018. Before that, they were banned by the Delhi government in 2017. However, green crackers without barium salts are allowed to burst. However, due to difficulty differentiating between green and conventional crackers, the city government has imposed a blanket ban on all firecrackers during winters since 2020.
While this is aimed at controlling pollution levels, it also leads to a loss of livelihood for thousands of people who are associated with the trade. “Firecrackers business used to generate lakhs of rupees for the city’s economy. Around 1,200 licenses were issued every year. This was drastically reduced to 800 in subsequent years. Then, only 250 licenses were cleared and they stopped issuing them altogether. It destroyed the industry and affected 2 lakh people associated with the trade,” said Narender Gupta, president of the Fireworks and General Traders Welfare Association.
“Earlier, we wouldn’t even get time to lunch during Diwali. There used to be so much business during these days that we had to cancel our plans. But after the ban, there is hardly any business. Thousands of our labourers are now jobless,” said Harjeet Chhabra the general secretary of the body. Traders said that the situation forced many of them to move to other cities for better business prospects. They also complained that the ban is ineffective on the ground and remains only on paper due to shoddy implementation.
“When even SC has not banned green crackers, why is the government putting a complete ban? Police officials go after us traders but can’t check those who smuggle the firecrackers into the city to burst them openly. Everyone gets them from Meerut and uses them without any fear or repercussion. But the traders have to bear the brunt,” Gupta said.