NEW DELHI: Firecrackers have been banned in Delhi since 2017, but that hasn’t deterred buyers or sellers. Now, a week before Diwali, the story is being repeated and there are reports of firecrackers available for purchase online. A number of websites are assuring delivery of fireworks like sparkles, SkyShots and anaar to houses in the capital. “We can send them to Delhi, but the minimum order has to be of Rs 3000,” said a dealer from Sivakasi, the pyrotechnics hub in Tamil Nadu. Delhi government has ordered a complete ban on buying, bursting, storing and selling, including online sales, of firecrackers till January 1, 2023 to curb air pollution. Rajeev Suri, a resident of Defence Colony, lodged a complaint with Delhi Police, the lieutenant governor’s office, Delhi Pollution Control Committee, Central Pollution Control Board and Commission on Air Quality Monitoring about firecrackers being sold. Suri said, “A man posted the price of different firecrackers on a Facebook group and promised a 30% discount and home delivery. The ban is only on paper. Firecrackers are being sold behind the veil.” He feared the ban would be widely flouted again this Diwali. Track the pollution level in your cityOn Monday, TOI visited old Delhi and found that despite the ban, customers were enquiring about fireworks. However, most of the popular cracker shops near Jama Masjid and Sadar Bazaar were closed. Instead of the usual shops selling big, polluting pyrotechnic devices, there were vendors selling coloured matchboxes, cap crackers, poppers and toy guns. The over a century-old fireworks shop at Bazar Paiwalan behind Jama Masjid has been shut for two weeks now, its colourful signboard covered with white sheets. Hawkers today sell small crackers and toys for children outside the shop. A customer tried a toy gun. He loaded a roll of caps and pulled the trigger to hear a ‘putt’ sound. But he was dissuaded by the shopkeeper from trying again. I don’t want “unnecessary attention”, the hawker told the customer. There is, of course, a huge demand for fireworks among the public. “We only have five items of small poppers for children this year, but almost every customer that has stopped here has asked for the real crackers, which are banned,” said vendor Anamul Haq near Jama Masjid. Experts say a firecracker ban can be successful only when it is supported by the public. This is why the authorities must work on bringing a behavioural change in society, they say. According to studies, the major firecracker pollutants are PM2.5 particles and sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide and toluene. Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director (research and advocacy), Centre for Science and Environment, told TOI, “The fact about the effect of toxic chemicals on the health of children, elderly and ailing population as well as on the environment and food chain has to be used to build a strong anti-cracker sentiment. Else, all of us will eventually be affected.”
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/delhi-cracker-ban-or-not-brace-for-haze-and-daze/articleshow/94925872.cms
