Why should not firecrackers be banned?

The Delhi high court on Thursday served showcause notices on the controllers of explosives, asking them why bursting crackers should not be banned on Diwali day.

The court also asked the capital's administration to list the efforts being made to minimise Diwali-related mishaps and the facilities available in the burns wards of various hospital.

Hearing a public interest petition filed by Shagun Kaushik, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Ajay Prakash Misra and Justice N G Nandi gave the administration a week to reply to the query and adjourned the case to October 21. The controllers of explosives in Nagpur, Agra and Faridabad, the licensing authority for crackers manufacture, have been asked to file their replies within three weeks.

The controllers were made party in the case following the Delhi police counsel's submission that restrictions on the issue of licences were not in their hand.

The court asked the Crackers Manufacturers Association's counsel Aman Lekhi to suggest measures to reduce noise pollution and the sulphur content in crackers.

Contending that it was a myth that firecrackers degraded the environment, Lekhi said the Central Pollution Control Board's list of major environment pollutants did not include them.

Lekhi said that crackers can be one of the contributory factors, but are not the primary factors of noise pollution. As for the discharge of sulphur dioxide, industries and vehicles release more sulphur dioxide than crackers, he said.

He said higher sulphur dioxide concentration is found in the environment during February-March instead of October-November, the period during which Diwali generally falls.

Lekhi said that in an effort to bring down the pollution caused by crackers, the bursting has to be restricted to certain hours and certain places.

The crackers causing noise more than a prescribed level should be banned for public use and the manufacturers should be directed to reduce the noise level to less than 100 decibels against the prevailing 120 to 150 decibels, he suggested.

The petitioner cited the Calcutta high court's judgment which had imposed a ban on the use of crackers holding them as a source of noise and air pollution.

Stating that it was not interested in entering the dispute at this stage, the bench fixed October 21 for an interim order in the matter and asked the counsel for various parties to suggest measures to overcome the problem.

UNI