The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh will comply with the orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) regarding firecrackers on Diwali. According to the Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Avanish Awasthi, “The NGT’s order is a detailed one and we will comply with it. The air quality is deteriorating and steps have to be taken to address the issue.”
Cities including Lucknow, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Bareilly, Firozabad, Jhansi, Kanpur, Bulandshahr, Moradabad and Rae Bareli may go in for a complete ban on the use of crackers during Diwali. A senior official said that District Magistrates will be taking decision, keeping in mind the pollution level in their respective districts.
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While Meerut has already imposed a ban on firecrackers, Lucknow has so far banned only certain categories of firecrackers. Among the firecrackers banned in Lucknow are the most preferred ‘ladis’ or ‘chatai’ (cracker series) and similar high decibel crackers.
“Sale of only those crackers that are in compliance with the Supreme Court’s order would be allowed,” said Naveen Arora, Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP). “On festivals like Diwali and Gurupurab, fireworks would be allowed only between 8 pm and 10 pm. On Christmas and New Year’s Eve, fireworks may start from 11.55 pm and continue till 12.30 am,” the guidelines said.
Besides, the district administration has defined ‘No Cracker Zones’ in the city, including hospital, nursing homes, educational institutions, court and zoological gardens.
Agra Additional District Magistrate, Ajay Tiwari, said that bursting of firecrackers will not be allowed. “Instructions have already been issued to all police stations to initiate strong action against storage of firecrackers or their use,” he said.
Agra District Magistrate Prabhu Nath Singh, said: “No fresh license for sale of firecrackers is being issued. All renewals too are on hold and so is the practice of issuing temporary license.” Agra has been one of the highly polluted cities in Uttar Pradesh this season.
