National Green Tribunal issue orders affecting Diwali festivity pan India
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in/ Chandigarh
With few days left in the festival of light-Diwali, the concern over the poor air quality and its effect on Covid-19 patients have become the chief cause of concern for the authorities.
Keeping a view in the prevailing situation in the country, National Green Tribunal (NGT) in its latest order banned firecrackers during Diwali nationwide where the average ambient air quality from November 9-10 till November 30-December 1 midnight falls under the ‘poor’ and ‘worse’ category. The Tribunal passed the orders based on the ‘Precautionary’ principle, headed by National Green Tribunal (NGT) Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel . Justice Goel clarified that the direction will apply to all cities and towns in the country where the average of ambient air quality during November (as per available data of last year) fell under the ‘poor’ and above categories.
This ban will affect the sale of firecrackers, nationwide. As per an estimate Delhi, NCR, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and other north Indian states are the major firecracker markets accounting for not less than 40 per cent of the firecracker industry’s sales will affect it majorly. The reason for this is that the people in these regions celebrate Diwali in a grand manner.The NGT has allowed the use of only green crackers in cities and towns where air quality is “moderate”.
When contacted Punjab pollution control board (PPCB) member secretary Kurnesh Garg, he said ” the matter has been forwarded to the state government. Till date the Punjab government has not taken any decision to ban the firecrackers in the state. As soon the state government takes any decision, we will inform the public”
The NGT has restricted the timing of fireworks to two hours on Diwali. The decision was taken “due to Covid-19” pandemic situation. The timing of two hours is to be specified by the local state governments.
As per the available information Sivakasi in Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu accounts for nearly 90 per cent of the country’s firecracker production and has 1,070 firecracker units in and around the city. Nearly 3,00,000 workers are directly employed whereas another 5,00,000 are in the allied sectors.The firecrackers manufactured in factories at Sivakasi are valued at nearly Rs 2,500 crore while the retail sales are estimated at nearly Rs 6,000 crore. This year the production may be valued at nearly Rs 1,800 crore, by industry experts.
November 9,2020
