Ahead of festive season, Delhi Pollution Control Body bans sale, bursting of firecrackers till Jan 1

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) on Tuesday, 28 September, ordered a complete ban on the sale and bursting of firecrackers in the national capital. According to the media reports, the ban will be in place till 1 January, 2022.

In an order, the DPCC said the ban on cracker sale, storage and use, which was first announced by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on September 15 this year, will be extended till January 1, 2022.

“Several experts have indicated a possibility of another surge of Covid-19 and large-scale celebrations by bursting firecrackers will result not only in agglomeration of people, in violation of social distancing norms, but also in high level of air pollution leading to serious health issues,” the order said.

It further said, “The DPCC directs that there will be a complete ban on bursting and sale of all kinds of firecrackers up to January 1, 2022, in the territory of NCT of Delhi.”

The pollution board has also asked district magistrates and deputy commissioners of police to implement the directions and submit daily action taken reports to it.

Every year, during the winter months from mid-October, Delhi’s air quality plummets to emergency levels on several days owing to changes in weather, large-scale stubble burning in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana, and also due to local pollution sources and cracker bursting during Diwali.

Despite a ban on crackers last year as well, Delhi’s pollution levels remained high on Diwali day (November 14) and continued to remain in the poor zone in the subsequent week.

Earlier on 15th September, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said the decision to impose a complete ban on crackers in Delhi was taken to “save lives” of residents.