Arvind Kejriwal bans sale, use & storage of firecrackers in Delhi during Diwali over dangerous pollution levels

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday announced that there would be a “complete ban” on the usage, storage or sales of any type of firecrackers inside the city during the festival of Diwali. Further, Kejriwal also appealed to the traders in the national capital to not stock up on firecrackers in view of the ban and in order to avoid losses.

He cited the dangerous pollution levels in Delhi as the reason behind the announcement. Taking to Twitter, the Delhi CM said, “In view of the dangerous condition of Delhi's pollution during Diwali for the past 3 years, like last year, a complete ban is being imposed on the storage, sale and use of all types of firecrackers. So that people's lives can be saved.” 

His appeal to the traders came in a subsequent tweet, in which he said, “In view of the seriousness of pollution after the stocking of firecrackers by traders last year, a complete ban was imposed late, which caused losses to the traders. It is an appeal to all the traders that this time in view of the complete ban, do not do any kind of storage.”

However, the CM did not mention the exact time duration for which the cracker ban would be in place. Last year too, the Delhi government had banned all firecrackers, including green crackers, in the national capital. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) had imposed a ban on firecrackers in Delhi and the adjoining National Capital Region (NCR) between November 9 and 30. Diwali was celebrated on November 14 last year. The NGT then extended this ban until Christmas and the new year in a bid to control pollution.

The ban was announced last year with only a few days left for the festival due to which several traders in the city had expressed their concerns about incurring losses and asked the government to reconsider their decision. However, the government went ahead with the ban and also earmarked 800 open spaces in the city where people were allowed to burst only green crackers for two hours in the night.

Earlier in 2017, the Supreme Court of India had temporarily banned the sale of crackers in 2017 before the festival of Diwali. However, after that, the court had allowed the sales of low-emission firecrackers in the region.