Will the Govt’s ‘no fireworks’ drive fizzle like wet crackerIJ
Ahead of Diwali, the Delhi Government has decided to launch ‘no to firecrackers’ campaign, aiming to control air and noise pollution. The Environment Department will be conducting anti-firecracker campaign during Diwali and seeking cooperation of all the enforcement agencies to monitor air and noise pollution.
An official of the department said that in order to ensure celebration of pollution-free Diwali, restricting licences to sale of firecrackers has also been recommended. A meeting has also been called on October 13 with Designated Authority as per notification under Noise Rules, 2000 — namely Delhi Police, including Traffic Police, Deputy Commissioners (Revenue), SDMs, and officials of Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to formulate an action plan to reduce air and noise pollution due to firecrackers.
However, the Government claims that a substantial impact in preventing firecrackers by a large section of people has been observed, resulting in reduction of air and noise levels. The official said that they will ensure compliance with the orders of Supreme Court of India dated July 1, 2005 regarding noise pollution and prevention, especially related to complete ban on sound-emitting firecrackers between 10 pm to 6 am and implementation of Explosive Rules, 2008 with respect to fireworks by the manufacturers.
“The department will also launch an anti-fireworks campaign in newspapers shortly. We have also done testing of firecrackers available in the market. Fireworks were procured from the open market and were tested for decibel levels,” he added. According to the department, though the samples were found meeting the prescribed standards (sound level not exceeding 125db (AI) or 145db(C) pk at 4-metre distance from the point of bursting), some samples did not have details of chemical content, sound level on the box and were thus, found violating rules.