E-Paper
Only green crackers permitted for short duration on festivals: Hayer
He said only licensed traders would be allowed to sell permitted firecrackers and no e-commerce site or others shall accept online orders within Punjab.
The Punjab government will allow use of only green crackers for a short duration on Diwali, Gurpurab, Christmas and New Year.
Enviornment minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer said in compliance of various directions issued by the Supreme Court, the National Green Tribunal (NGT), Punjab and Haryana high court and ministry of environment forest and climate change (MoEF&CC), the state government is encouraging use of green crackers.
He said only licensed traders would be allowed to sell permitted firecrackers and no e-commerce site or others shall accept online orders within Punjab.
He said as the festive season of Diwali, Gurpurab, Christmas and New Year Eve is approaching during which the science, technology and environment department will allow only green crackers that do not use barium salt or compounds of antimony, lithium, mercury, arsenic, lead or strontium chromate. Meet Hayer said only green crackers can busted on Diwali (from 8 pm to 10 pm), Gurpurab (from 4 am to 5 am and from 9 pm to 10 pm), Christmas eve (from 11.55 pm till 12.30 am) and New Year Eve (from 11.55 pm till 12.30 am).
The minister said manufacturing, stocking, distributing, selling and using joined firecrackers (series of crackers which are joined) are banned in the state. The Punjab pollution control board has been directed to carry out short-term monitoring in selected cities of the state. Also, the police shall ensure that only green crackers are sold and burst during the permitted time and at designated places, the minister said.
Meet Hayer also appealed to people to encourage community fire cracking at pre-identified areas/fields designated by the authorities concerned.
