With the National Green Tribunal (NGT) taking a tough stand against bursting of crackers on Diwali, Punjab Government on Tuesday announced to ban bursting of crackers in Mandi Gobindgarh, while allowing “only green crackers” from 8 pm to 10 pm on Diwali.
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh announced a two-hour window for use of green fire crackers on Diwali and Gurpurab, with a curb for Christmas too across the State, except in Mandi Gobindgarh, where a total ban has been imposed from the midnight of November 9-10 till November 30-December 1 midnight on account of its poor AQI (Air Quality Index) levels.
Only green crackers will be allowed as per these orders, which are in compliance with the directives of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), as well as various judicial orders passed amid reports of fire crackers likely to aggravate the COVID problem, said the government’s official spokesperson.
While on Diwali day (November 14), green crackers can be burst from 8 pm to 10 pm, on Gurpurab (November 30), they will be allowed from 4 am to 5 am and from 9 pm to 10 pm.
On Christmas Eve, people can burst these crackers from 11.55 pm till 12.30 am.
Chairing a virtual COVID-19 review meeting, the Chief Minister directed the Department of Science, Technology and Environment to issue the necessary notification in this regard.
Warning against any violation of these curbs, he asked the state Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta to crackdown heavily to ensure penal action as per the law.