BENGALURU: Upholding an order passed by the City Police Commissioner in 2012 on banning sale of firecrackers in congested areas of Bengaluru city, the Karnataka High Court observed that it needs no research to know that the production, transportation and bursting of crackers, including those with reduced emission such as green crackers, are detrimental to mother nature, in varying degrees and kind.
Justice Krishna S Dixit upheld the order while dismissing the petitions filed by Madhi Trading Company and others in 2013, who are running businesses that deal with crackers and fireworks items at Sultanpet and on Avenue Road. The petitions questioned the order passed by the Director General of Police who upheld the order dated April 12, 2012 issued by the commissioner of police.
Citing observations made by the Supreme Court, the high court said that firecrackers, apart from being a health hazard and posing risk to life and limb, cause enormous environmental pollution in dense cities like Bengaluru that are plagued with ceaseless sound pollution. The bursting of crackers would only add to the existing woes, it said.
While explaining the harmful effects of firecrackers and irreversible damages it causes to the environment, the high court also observed that several cases are reported of “ocular firecracker injuries” in children aged 20 and below. The world becomes blind for the rest of the lives for those who have lost their eyes. This would make the makers of the Constitution turn in their graves. There cannot be a greater violation of right to life, limb and liberty, the court added.
The petitioners had obtained licences under the Explosives Act and trade licences from the BBMP. These licenses carry no weight after the impugned orders on the ground that the shops of the petitioners are situated in congested areas of the city and that any fire mishap arising from the crackers and fireworks cannot be easily handled because of difficulty for fire engines to move into the narrow lanes that are thickly congested and over-populated. It cannot be disputed that any fire mishap in these areas would transcend the locality and have a chain reaction. Hence the sale of firecrackers was banned.