Gurugram: Over 500 penalised for firecracker violations, not wearing masks

The Police on Saturday penalised at least 537 persons who were found without masks, bursting firecrackers or selling them. Police said a ban had been imposed on

The Police on Saturday penalised at least 537 persons who were found without masks, bursting firecrackers or selling them. Police said a ban had been imposed on bursting firecrackers by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in view of rising air pollution, and they penalised violators in different areas of the city.

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According to the police, 104 people from different places in Gurugram were arrested for allegedly selling firecrackers despite a ban on the sale and bursting of firecrackers in the city in the last three days, said the police.

City police commissioner KK Rao said that they had alerted their informers and deployed at least 690 police personnel in plainclothes across the city in a massive crackdown on firecracker sale and usage. The NGT, earlier this month, had ordered zero tolerance on such activities in the National Capital Region (NCR) in view of the deteriorating air quality in November. “Since Saturday morning, we have been getting calls that people are not wearing masks and are roaming around in markets, shopping. Outskirt areas, from where most of the firecracker godowns were seized, were reported to be selling firecrackers,” he said.

Across the city, police teams visited almost all residential areas and requested residents not to burst firecrackers, else they would face action.

Rao said that until 6pm everything was peaceful but then suddenly, after 7pm, people started bursting firecrackers like there is no tomorrow. “Surprisingly, people living in high-rises too did not follow any guidelines issued by their resident welfare associations. They bought crackers illegally and burst them from their terraces. There was noise and air pollution at night following which people started calling and complaining about their neighbours,” he said.

Police said they seized more than 700 kilograms of firecrackers during the crackdown and it was found that shopkeepers had bought them from neighbouring areas. Officers booked the suspects under Section 9B of the Explosives Act at respective police stations, said the police.

Police said there was a lot of confusion amongst the people as many reached designated areas with firecrackers to burst them, not knowing of the latest NGT order. Their firecrackers were seized but no action was taken against them, said officers.

More than 350 persons were given a warning and allowed to leave as they had come with their children at different spots and had assumed there was some firework display on Diwali.

Rao said they wanted the people to have a safe Diwali and to ensure there were no drunken brawls, the police had taken precautionary measures and had deployed personnel in all slum areas as well.

The NGT order bans firecrackers in the NCR from the midnight of November 9 to the midnight of November 30. Earlier this week, the NGT had sought responses from state governments in the NCR on banning firecrackers.