6-Month Jail For Bursting Crackers In Delhi! 3-Years Jail For Selling Fire Crackers In Delhi

Gopal Rai, the environment minister of Delhi, on Wednesday said that the manufacturing, storing, and selling firecrackers in the national capital is a punishable offence and would attract a fine of up to ?5,000 and three years in jail.

Fine & Jail Term If Fail to Comply

The minister said that the purchasing and bursting of firecrackers would also be punishable by a ?200 fine and a six-month jail term.

This comes amid the government’s stern measures in order to curb the air pollution during the festive season when air quality deteriorates significantly.

This ban on manufacturing, selling, storing, and bursting of firecrackers was reimposed by the Delhi government on September 7 till January 1, including on Diwali.

The environment minister, while addressing a presser, said that a public awareness campaign, ‘Diye Jalao Patakhe Nahi’, will be launched on October 21. The Delhi government will light 51,000 diyas at Central Park in Connaught Place as a part of this campaign.

The minister told that in order to implement the ban, a total of 408 teams have been set up. Speaking about these teams, the Delhi Police has set up 210 teams under assistant commissioners of police, while the revenue department has set up 165 teams and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee has constituted 33 teams.

Till October 16, total 188 cases of violations have been detected and 2,917 kg firecrackers seized. 

Why Is the Ban Necessary?

Mr. Rai urged Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav to ensure the ban on firecrackers is strictly implemented in the entire NCR “as the smoke from firecrackers burst in the region impacts the people in Delhi also”.   

Speaking about the ban previous year, then Delhi, Haryana had also imposed a ban on the sale and use of all kinds of firecrackers in 14 of its districts in the NCR region. The state of Uttar Pradesh had allowed the use of green crackers on Diwali just for two hours in areas with moderate or better air quality.

However, despite all this, there were people who burst firecrackers till late night in Delhi, Noida, Faridabad and Gurugram.

As per the data of DPCC, this had 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.