NEW DELHI: Traders in the national capital found an 'innovative' way to protest against the Supreme Court order which stated that "green crackers" will be sold in the Delhi-NCR region during this Diwali and other festivals. Members of the Sadar Bazar Welfare Association staged a protest on Wednesday by putting firecrackers inside green vegetables. "We don't even know what green crackers are. There is no green cracker in the market," HS Chhabra, President of the Association, said.

Chhabra said he also asked the authorities about the "green crackers" but failed to get any response from them.

"When we asked them (the SHOs), they said they will give us a list of crackers. But the next day they said it will take two more days. There is no green cracker in the market. This should have been done one year in advance," he said.


Delhi Environment Minister Imran Hussain has appealed to people to help in reducing local sources of pollution by celebrating a cracker-free Diwali. The appeal by Hussain comes amid a deterioration in air quality which has worsened to alarming levels in the past three weeks.

The apex court had refused to prohibit bursting of crackers on Diwali and permitted their sale and use with reduced emission and decibel levels for two hours -- from 8 p.m to 10 p.m. The court also allowed southern states including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh to chose the time for bursting firecrackers during Diwali subject to the limit of two hours.

The court highlighted that its pan-India directions pertain to community fire cracking, two hours duration for bursting of crackers, public awareness campaign.