NEW DELHI: With a view to regulate unrestricted sales and bursting of firecrackers which results in a sharp rise of pollutants in the air immediately after Diwali, state governments across the country this year have laid down stringent norms.
On September 14, Delhi Pollution Control Committee directed for complete ban on manufacturing, storage, sale and bursting of all kinds of firecrackers till January 1, 2023 in the national capital. The Punjab government clarified that citizens will be given a window of two hours from 8pm to 10pm to burst firecrackers on Diwali and Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) imposed an immediate prohibition on manufacture, sale and use of all kinds of firecrackers, excluding green crackers. The Tamil Nadu government has allowed bursting crackers for an hour but twice on that day. The permitted window lies between 6-7am and between 7-8pm.
Against this ban, various stakeholders knocked the doors of HC’s and even SC, but court’s this year kept in loop respiratory problems suffered by citizens afterwards and took a stern view by batting for clean air. On Thursday, SC bench of Justices MR Shah and MM Sundresh had turned down BJP MP Manoj Tiwari’s request for urgent listing of his petition challenging ban on firecrackers in Delhi and other states. Appalled by the rise in air quality index in the capital, the bench had said that there were other ways to celebrate the festival. “Let people breathe clean air. Spend your money on sweets,” court had remarked.
On the same day, even the Delhi HC bench of Justice Yashwant Verma had had turned down a petition challenging Delhi Pollution Control Committee’s September 14 direction for complete ban on manufacturing, storage, sale and bursting of all kinds of firecrackers till January 1, 2023 in the national capital. Justice Yashwant Verma while turning down the plea had said that it would not be appropriate for the HC to consider the issue when the same was pending before the top court.
The Calcutta HC while deciding plea pertaining to sale of green firecrackers in West Bengal on October 11, 2022 had directed the Pollution Control Board as well as the police authorities to ensure that there is no importation, sale or bursting of crackers other than the green crackers bearing QR Code in the State of West Bengal. Even last year, the Supreme Court had banned crackers which were found to be injurious to health.