Delhi: Action on crackers let up before this Diwali

According to data released on Friday by the Delhi Police, 281 people were arrested across the city in the 38 days between September 28 and November 4 in 335 cases related to bursting and stocking firecrackers

The number of people arrested for violating the firecracker ban in the city in over a month in the run up to Diwali this year is only around a third of the total number of arrests recorded during Diwali last year, data from the Delhi Police showed. The number of cases registered also saw a three-fold drop in the comparative period, even as the police control room received over 1,100 calls related to bursting of firecrackers in Delhi on Thursday.

People burst fire crackers on Diwali despite of the ban by Delhi Government at Patel Nagar in New Delhi. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

According to data released on Friday by the Delhi Police, 281 people were arrested across the city in the 38 days between September 28 and November 4 in 335 cases related to bursting and stocking firecrackers. Last year’s police data available with HT shows that 850 people were arrested in 1,206 cases related to bursting crackers, and illegal sale, storage and supply of crackers just on Diwali (November 14, 2020).

Delhi Police officials did not respond to calls and messages seeking a comment.

The sale, storage and use of firecrackers were banned in the city following a Delhi government order on September 15 this year.

Of the 281 arrests this year , 143 people were picked up in 210 cases of bursting crackers and the remaining 138 were caught in 125 cases of illegally selling and supplying crackers. A total of nearly 19,703kg of crackers were seized during the police action in the last 38 days.

Instances of bursting firecrackers was witnessed in several parts of the city on Thursday and the police control room received over 1,100 calls -- averaging nearly 47 calls each hour -- related to such offences.

According to this year’s police statistics, Rohini district topped the list for arrests related to bursting crackers among the 15 police districts. Of the total 143 arrests in this category, 39 were arrested in Rohini, followed by Shahdara (37 arrests in 28 cases). Nobody was arrested for bursting crackers in east and north districts though six and three cases were registered respectively in the areas. The arrest data of southeast and central districts was not available.

Similarly, north district saw the maximum arrests (21 arrests in 12 cases) for illegal sale of crackers, followed by Rohini (14 arrests in 14 cases) and west district (14 arrests in 13 cases).

Further, Rohini also saw the highest seizure of firecrackers, recording capture of 11,396kg of the total 19,703kg of firecrackers seized in the Capital. The seizure data of Dwarka and New Delhi districts were not mentioned in the chart that the police shared.

To enforce the directives pertaining to the “complete ban” on firecrackers in Delhi, the city police said that they had formed 706 teams and held 1,351 meeting with various resident welfare associations (RWAs), market welfare associations (MWAs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) between September 28 and November 4. The teams checked 128 premises of licensees and inventory during this period, they said.

Meanwhile, many residents complained that despite a centralised helpline for reporting cracker violations in the city, it was difficult to either get through to the authorities or get them to act on it.

Nishata Singh, a resident of east Delhi’s Preet Vihar, said that she reached out to the Delhi Police via the 112 helpline to report massive cracker bursting in her area but the attendants insisted that she provide specific details on where exactly the bursting was happening. “I provided them the details of the area and the areas from where the cracker bursting sounds were coming, but how can I exactly tell them from which lane or which house the crackers were being burst? Despite my complaint, I could hear cracker bursting all night and no action was taken,” Singh said.

Rajeev Suri, a Delhi-based environmental activist, also said that cracker noises were being heard across the city. “This was a display of our collective governance failure and a breakdown of law and order,” he said.