Crackers banned: Now over to enforcement

The ban comes into force Friday midnight.

Bursting and selling crackers this season could attract a fine of up to R1 lakh, Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai said on Friday, a day after chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, in a bid to check the rising pollution levels, announced a complete ban on the sale and use of fireworks, including “green varieties”, in the capital till November 30.

A customer looks to buy green crackers ahead of Diwali festival, at Dariba Kalan in New Delhi on Thursday, November 5, 2020. (Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)

The ban comes into force Friday midnight.

Rai said people caught selling or bursting crackers could be slapped with a fine up to R1 lakh under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act (1981). “Prosecutions will be made under the Air Act, which has a provision to fines going as high as R1 lakh. The amount of fine will depend on the scale of the violation,” Rai said.

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) on Friday issued a detailed set of directions all the district magistrates and Delhi police, asking them to enforce the ban strictly.

“The ban would be implemented from Friday midnight. We have asked the enforcement agencies to submit a daily action taken report. We will be monitoring the situation closely,” said a senior DPCC official.

The environment minister will convene a meeting with representatives from the environment department, DPCC, divisional commissioners and Delhi Police on Monday to chalk out a detailed action plan.

The enforcement teams said they were prepared to enforce the government order.

Devesh Srivastava, joint commissioner of police (southern range), said special teams had already been constituted at police station and district levels to implement the earlier rule of allowing only green firecrackers (less-polluting varieties).

“We had special teams of special staff and district vigilance to deal with the problem, but now that we have heard of a complete ban, we’ll have to go even further,” Srivastava said.

A meeting of top police officers is likely soon to chart out the course of action.

The officer said since it will be a challenge to enforce the ban in the city’s bylanes, meetings will be arranged with resident welfare associations and market bodies in each area to ensure individuals do not burst firecrackers.

“We are activating our eyes and ears scheme particularly for this purpose so that a check can be kept on individuals as well, not just the sellers,” Srivastava said.

Police said they will focus on the 167 shops that were granted temporary licences to sell green firecrackers before the ban was announced, to ensure the stock procured by them is not sold illegally.

“While we were already out in the field to prevent the sale and purchase of illegal firecrackers, now we’ll push out our special teams a week prior to Diwali when people are actually seen lighting firecrackers,” said Srivastava.

The police are relying on neighbours to tip off about individuals flouting the rules.

Experts agreed that implementation of a ban of such a large scale would require public participation and awareness campaigns.

Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director (research and advocacy), Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said the Supreme Court had banned the sale of traditional firecrackers in 2017, but the stock is still being sold illegally and its proof can be heard around neighbourhoods.

“Enforcement is not easy when you have to track every bylane and neighbourhood. Getting crackers across the borders is easy. Effective implementation of the ban will only happen if people participate,” Roychowdhury said.

The police said that to prevent people buying crackers from neighbouring cities such as Ghaziabad and Noida, they will intensify random checks at border points. Haryana has also announced a complete ban on the sale of firecrackers.

“We are waiting for any directions from courts or from the state government with regard to sales of firecrackers. Once we receive directions, they will be implemented. At local level, we have not issued any temporary firecracker licences so far in the wake of high pollution levels. Any issuance of licences will be considered only after we get a nod from pollution department officials,” said Ajay Shankar Pandey, district magistrate, Ghaziabad.

The Delhi Police had last year arrested 261 people for selling or bursting illegal firecrackers on or ahead of Dilwali and registered a total of 433 first information reports against them. They had seized 9,758 kilos of illegal firecrackers.

Most of these FIRs and arrests had happened on Diwali night. That night alone, the police had registered 371 FIRs, arrested 210 persons and seized 3,764 kilos of firecrackers.

That night, 315 cases were registered against firecrackers users under IPC section of violating an order passed by a government servant and 56 under the Explosives Act against the sellers.