Ban on firecrackers to be permanent, Delhi govt tells Supreme Court | Latest News Delhi

The Delhi government has decided to ban firecrackers throughout the year in the Capital, and will file a response in this regard in the Supreme Court before it takes up the issue next week.

The top court was informed of the decision taken by the Delhi government during a hearing related to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by lawyer and activist MC Mehta about monitoring air pollution in the city.

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On November 11, the top court asked Delhi and national capital region (NCR) states Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan to decide on a permanent ban on firecrackers in the interest of citizens who have a right to breathe clean air. On Thursday, senior advocate Shadan Farasat, appearing for the Delhi government, said: “We will be doing it permanently. An in-principle decision has been taken. By the next date, the affidavit by the government will be there before the court.”

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To this, the bench of justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih responded, “This is the requirement not only to curb air pollution but noise pollution as well,” and asked the other NCR states to clarify their stand by the next hearing on December 19. “We will consider issuing directions to states on the issue of ban on firecrackers. We make it clear that the ban also includes ban on manufacture, storage or sale of firecrackers,” it added.

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A firecracker ban was first imposed in Delhi in 2017 following the Supreme Court’s directions in a bid to assess their possible impact on air quality.

In 2018 and 2019, there was a ban on conventional crackers, but green crackers were allowed. However, both years, firecrackers were widely burst as law enforcement agencies claimed they failed to distinguish between the different kinds of crackers.

From 2020 onwards, a complete ban was put in place, including a ban on green crackers. Even then, the ban has widely been flouted, resulting in the air quality sharply plummeting especially the day after Diwali.

The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), the statutory body monitoring air pollution in Delhi-NCR which implemented the court’s direction to scale down curbs to Stage 2 of the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap-2) on December 5, told the court that the air quality in the city was much better now, and accepted that keeping Grap-4 emergency measures in place for a fortnight from November 18 onwards had helped.

Additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for CAQM, said: “We are not asking for moving down from Grap-2. In the past week, we have seen how the effect has come about essentially because of the court’s order to continue Grap-4.”

The court, which spoke of the need to ensure that steps are not taken to add to the pollution, asked CAQM to consider recommending all that government vehicles, which constitute a major chunk of vehicular traffic in Delhi, to be switched to electric mode. Although the court has already mooted this suggestion in another PIL related to Delhi’s green cover, the bench said: “If the suggestion comes from CAQM, you can get data on how many such vehicles are there in Delhi.” The court said it was aware this could come to a huge number considering the presence of state and central government departments, public sector undertakings, corporations, and defence establishments.

The court also approved a modified Grap regime under Stage 2 proposed by CAQM, which introduces several measures from Grap-3 as part of Grap-2. These restrictions include a ban on interstate buses from NCR other than EV/CNG or BS-VI vehicles but do not apply to buses and tempo travellers with an all-India permit. The other modifications include intensifying mechanical sweeping of roads, water sprinklers to settle dust on roads and improving public transport services.

The bench also asked the states to provide details of subsistence allowance paid to construction workers who were rendered jobless during the construction ban under Grap-4. Delhi government said that over 90,000 registered workers were paid ₹8000, while fresh registrations were ongoing. Uttar Pradesh claimed to have paid the money to 488,000 workers, Haryana to 100,000 workers, and Rajasthan to 2,900 workers.

“We will continue to monitor till we are satisfied that every eligible worker has been paid. The emphasis should be not only on those who are registered but to ascertain actual number of workers deprived from income during this period,” the bench said.