Recently the Supreme Court (SC) clarified that there cannot be a complete ban on firecrackers.
The Supreme Court has set aside the order of the Calcutta High Court (HC) imposing a complete ban on the sale and use of all types of firecrackers in West Bengal.
- The Supreme Court has declared the High Court order to be of extreme nature. The Supreme Court has expressed the view that the High Court should have known the side of the industry before passing any such order.
- Last week, the Supreme Court ordered states/UTs to comply with its order banning the sale of banned firecrackers.
- But the Supreme Court had also made it clear that there is no complete ban on firecrackers, as green firecrackers can be used during the festival.
- The Supreme Court had given a strict order that in case of violation of this rule, the Chief Secretary, Police Commissioner, District Superintendent of Police and Station House Officer will be held personally responsible.
- The Supreme Court’s decision on firecrackers in the year 2018 had banned the manufacture, sale and use of firecrackers as they cause problems of air pollution, noise pollution and solid waste.
- In addition, the SC had also banned certain chemicals used in the manufacture of firecrackers, such as barium (provides green colour), lithium (red), arsenic and antimony (for brightness), lead or mercury and Strontium chromate.
- However, the Supreme Court had allowed the manufacture and sale of only green or ‘advanced’ firecrackers (ash is not used as a filling material).
About Green Crackers –
- These are made using less polluting raw materials. Their chemical formulation reduces particulate emissions into the atmosphere by suppressing the generated dust.
- Green firecrackers have been researched and developed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI).
- There are different types of green crackers available in India: Safe Water Releaser (SWAS), Safe Thermite Cracker (STAR) and Safe Minimal Aluminum crackers.
- While regular firecrackers emit about 100 decibels, the sound rate of green crackers is limited to 110-125 decibels.
Source – The Hindu
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