Firecrackers Banned In Delhi Till Jan 1st, 2023: No One Allowed To Manufacture, Store or Sell Firecrackers

On Wednesday, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said that till January 1, 2023, there will a blanket ban on the production, sale and use of all types of firecrackers in the national capital, including on Diwali.

The ban, as per the minister, also extends to online sale of firecrackers. However, there was no clarification on the restrictions. 

Blanket Ban of Firecrackers Till 1 January, 2023

He tweeted “Production, storage, sale and use of all types of firecrackers are being completely banned so that people’s lives can be saved”.

“Online sale/delivery of firecrackers will also be banned in Delhi this time. The restriction will remain in force till January 1, 2023,” Rai said.

In order to ensure strict enforcement of the ban, an action plan will be drawn up with the Delhi Police, Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and Revenue Department, said the minister.

Calling this as “show off”, the BJP leader Kapil Mishra said the Arvind Kejriwal government has failed to curb air pollution in Delhi and called it a show off.

He tweeted in Hindi “It has been proved in scientific reports and the court that firecrackers are not the source of pollution. When the Kejriwal government has failed to stop pollution in Delhi, why show off by banning firecrackers?”.

A complete ban on firecrackers till January 1, 2022 was imposed last year by Delhi government. It also ran an aggressive campaign against the sale and use of firecrackers which involved 15 special teams at the district level.

A ban was also imposed by the neighbouring state Haryana, on the the sale or use of all kinds of firecrackers in 14 of its districts in the National Capital Region (NCR), while Uttar Pradesh allowed the use of green crackers on Diwali just for two hours in areas with moderate or better air quality.

However, the incidents of bursting firecrackers till late night were reported in Delhi, Noida, Faridabad and Gurugram.

According to the DPCC, fireworks led to major changes in PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations in Delhi on Diwali night (November 4).

Emissions from firecrackers and farm fires had pushed the capital’s 24-hour average air quality index for the day after Diwali to 462, the highest in five years.

The minister, then blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) instigated people to flout the ban on firecrackers on Diwali by linking it to religion.

On December 2, 2020, the National Green Tribunal had ordered a total ban on the sale and use of all kinds of firecrackers in the NCR and all cities with poor or worse ambient air quality.

Unfavourable Meteorological Factors, Stubble Burning Make Matters Worse

In the months starting October, the air quality in Delhi and neighbouring areas starts worsening because of the unfavourable meteorological factors such as low temperatures and wind speed which do not allow dispersion of pollutants.

Adding fuel to the fire is the cocktail of emissions from firecrackers on Diwali as well as stubble burning in neighbouring states. 

However, the researchers from IIT-Delhi said that it is the biomass burning emissions is behind the poor air quality in the national capital during the days following Diwali, and not the fireworks. 

According to the Ministry of Earth Sciences’ air quality forecaster SAFAR, the stubble burning accounted for 25 per cent of PM2.5 pollution in Delhi in 2021; 32 per cent in 2020 and 19 per cent in 2019.