In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and increased air pollution, the National Green Tribunal has now taken a tough stance to check the deteriorating air quality. NGT on Monday has imposed a complete ban on the sale or use of all kinds of firecrackers in the Delhi-NCR region from midnight of November 9 till November 30.
Notably, the ban comes a day after Haryana CM ML Khattar allowed the sale and bursting of crackers for two hours on Diwali has sent firecracker sellers and manufacturers in a tizzy as they claim to have invested a lot in the production, procurement and license of newly introduced green crackers.
As per the decision pronounced on Monday, a Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said the firecracker ban would also apply to other cities and towns in the country where the air quality in November fell under 'poor', 'very poor', or 'severe' categories.
On November 2, the NGT had issued a notice to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and four state governments asking whether the use of firecrackers should be banned from November 7 to 30 in the interest of public health and environment.
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The NGT said in cities and towns where the air quality was 'moderate' or below, only green crackers should be sold and the timings for use and bursting of crackers be restricted to two hours during festivals.
Meanwhile, the firecracker sellers across the NCR have demanded a ban on construction rather than crackers claiming that the construction activity had emerged as the worst contributor to smog, especially in cities like Gurugram. They claimed the ban would promote the illegal sale of conventional polluting crackers rather than the safe green ones.
"What is the point of introducing green crackers when you have to ban them. The construction activity and stubble burning are the main culprits. Rather than dealing with these issues, we are being made scapegoats. This will increase the sale of illegal crackers," said Sudheer Manchanda, a cracker distributer.