Flouting the basic safety norms, firecrackers are being sold like snacks in Bokaro.

According to the district administration officials, only three vendors are having license to sell crackers in Chas-Bokaro areas but thousands of shops illegally selling crackers.

Violation of safety regulations by cracker vendors is a matter of concerns these days as the city is having densely populated commercial and residential areas and many cracker shop housed side-by-side across the cities. Cracker venders are hardly bothered to abide by any of the safety guidelines, said Vinod a resident of Sector 2 in Bokaro. The cracker shops are found in the lanes and by-lanes where no tanker can reach such congested lanes, he said.

 “The situation is similar in several areas across the district”, said Krisna.

According to the safety guideline, “There should be a minimum distance of at least three metres between two shops selling fire crackers and the sellers must have to keep a fire extinguisher, sandbags along with enough water storage but none of the vendors found following the guidelines”, said a fire official.

According to the Supreme Court’s guidelines, firecrackers that are louder than 120 decibels are banned but several fire crackers louder than 120 decibels rampantly goes on sale across the district, said the official.

Meanwhile a special assembly was organized at DPS Bokaro before the vacation on the significance of the festival of lights – Diwali. The students and teachers took a green pledge to care for man and environment in this festival. The students also pledged to celebrate Diwali in an eco-friendly way.

Instead of using electric illumination for long hours, the students pledged to use traditional lighting of earthen lamps and diyas, and not burst fire crackers and avoid all kinds of pollution.