Diwali, meant to be a beautiful festival of light and happiness has turned into an environmental nightmare, with alarming pollution levels increasing by the season. In lieu of this, a bench of the Supreme Court led by Justices A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan, has initiated a selective ban on fireworks and also regulated the timings of its usage.
The Supreme Court has clamped down on e-commerce portals for the sale of firecrackers. In the Delhi and National Capital Region, only ‘green crackers’- those with permissible emission and decibel levels that are less polluting are allowed to be sold. In the rest of the region, firecrackers that have already been produced alone can be sold.
Regarding the time of usage, the court has limited it to two hours for the entire country, between 8 pm and 10pm during Diwali. Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and other southern states can burst fireworks between 4 am to 5 am, and 9 pm to 10 pm during the festival days. The rules change slightly during Christmas and New Year’s, where the timing is from 11:45 pm to 12:15 am.
The partial ban is an experiment by the Supreme Court, to judge pollution levels and consider further steps to take in the coming year.
Feature Image Courtesy: timesofman.com
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