The National Green Tribunal (NGT) ordered a complete ban on the sale and use of firecrackers in the National Capital Region (NCR) from midnight Monday till November 30. The ban would also cover any city or town where the air quality goes below the ‘poor’ category on the Air Quality Index (AQI).
As Delhi and adjoining cities battle worsening air quality every day, NGT said the threshold of pollution is continuously crossed in NCR and therefore an “absolute” ban is needed.
Last week, the Delhi government banned firecrackers in the capital city. It was followed by Haryana which also announced complete ban of sale and burning of firecrackers.
Governments of Odisha, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Union Territory (UT) of Chandigarh, and the Calcutta High Court have already issued orders for ban on sale and use of firecrackers in the respective state/city.
However, the enforcement of the NGT order and imposition of penalties will remain in the hands of the local authorities. “The Chief Secretaries and Director General of Police (s) of all the States/UTs may issue and circulate an appropriate order in above terms with appropriate enforcement guidelines to all the District Magistrates and Superintendents of Police, state pollution control boards,” said NGT in its order.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and state PCBs have also been directed by the NGT to regularly monitor the air quality during the ban period and should upload on their respective websites. CPCB would compile the data and file a consolidated report to the NGT.
For cities/towns where air quality is ‘moderate’ or below, only green crackers be sold and the timings for use and bursting of crackers be restricted to two hours during festivals, like Diwali, Chatt, New Year/Christmas Eve etc., as may be specified by the concerned State, said the NGT. This is according to a Supreme Court judgment of October 2018 which specified the restrictions on sale and use of firecrackers during poor air quality season.
The average AQI of Delhi-NCR crossed the maximum ‘severe’ category on Monday morning with the PM2.5 levels touching 527, according to the SAFAR dashboard of the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
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