E-Paper
Cracker ban not to be diluted in Chandigarh: UT advisor Dharam Pal
A blanket ban on the sale and use of crackers had been imposed by the UT administration on October 12, after which dealers had requested that the cracker ban be diluted
Denying the cracker dealers’ request for temporary licences, adviser to the UT administrator Dharam Pal on Monday said that the blanket ban on crackers will be “strictly enforced” and will not be diluted.
A blanket ban on the sale and use of crackers had been imposed by the UT administration on October 12, which had come as a setback for firecracker dealers across the city. As such the Chandigarh Cracker Dealers’ Association had asked the administration to issue temporary cracker licences for Diwali and Gurupurab festivals.
In a letter to district magistrate Mandip Singh Brar, the association’s president Davinder Kumar Gupta and general secretary Chirag Aggarwal had said that despite specific guidelines from the National Green Tribunal and the Supreme Court pertaining to the sale of green crackers, the administration had imposed a complete ban in the UT.
“The Supreme Court on Monday set aside an order of the Calcutta high court promulgating a blanket ban on crackers in West Bengal. Even the states surrounding Chandigarh have allowed the sale and bursting of crackers as per the orders of NGT and the Apex Court,” the letter said, adding that the administration was depriving members of the association from earning a living, which is their constitutional right.
