The district administration of Haryana's Gurugram on Friday announced a ban on manufacturing, selling, and use of firecrackers from November 1 till January 31, 2024. District Magistrate Nishant Kumar Yadav while talking to the news agency ANI said that the ban is applicable on all types of firecrackers except for green firecrackers and barium salt. Yadav said that this order has been issued in public interest to curb pollution. This announcement comes a month ahead of Diwali which will be celebrated on November 12.
A ban order issued by the district administration read, "In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 144 of CrPC, P.C. Under 1973, Explosives Act, 1884 and Explosives Rules, there will be a ban on the manufacture, sale, and use of all types of firecrackers and all types of firecrackers except green firecrackers for the period from November 1, 2023, to January 31, 2024."
As per the order, the use of green crackers will be allowed but only for a limited time on special occasions like Diwali, Gurupurab, Christmas and New Year's Eve. The permissible timeline to burst green firecrackers on Diwali or any other festival like Gurupurab will be only from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm. The order stated further that on Christmas and New Year's Eve when such fireworks start around midnight, the permissible timeline will be from 11:55 pm to 12:30 am, ANI reported.
As for the people thinking of purchasing non-green firecrackers on E-commerce websites, companies like Flipkart, Amazon and others would not accept any online orders for firecrackers.
Regional Officer, Haryana State Pollution Control Board, Gurugram has been instructed to monitor the air quality regularly and upload the data on the respective websites as per the directions of the Supreme Court and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), reported ANI.
The ban order added that the Commissioner of Police Gurugram, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation Gurugram and Manesar, all SDMs, all Tehsildars/Naib Tehsildars/BDPOs, DCP/ACP, EO/Secretaries, Municipal Committees, SHOs of all police stations, Fire Officers Gurugram and other fire office employees will be responsible for ensuring the compliance of this order in the district.
The district administration has instructed all officers to conduct raids in the district to implement this order and submit the reports of the operations to the District Magistrate's office on a daily basis. If someone's found to be not in compliance and in violation of this order then punitive action will be taken against them according to the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, Explosives Act 1884 and Explosives Rules, reported ANI.
This decision of the Gurugram administration comes two weeks after Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai announced that all types of firecrackers will remain banned in Delhi this Diwali as well.