Now, have a blast with ‘herbal firecrackers’

LUCKNOW:After herbal lipstick and herbal gulaal, it’s now the turn of ‘herbal firecrackers’. The National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) has developed ‘green’ firecrackers with help of plant-based material.

The over six-decade-old NBRI, one of the labs of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), came up with the environment friendly firecrackers after a lot of research. The other labs of CSIR, including Central Electro Chemical Research Institute (CECRI),

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These crackers have been made in such a way that they cause 75 per cent less pollution in comparison to the regular ones

SK BARIK, director NBRI, Lucknow

Indian Institute of Chemical Technology and National Chemical Laboratory also pitched in for the one-of-itskind product.

“Yes we, along with many other labs, developed the ecofriendly firecrackers,” said SK Barik, director NBRI, Lucknow.

Barik said the new firecrackers cause much less pollution as compared to the regular firecrackers but produce light and sound similar to the regular ones.

“These crackers have been made in such a way that they cause 75 per cent less pollution in comparison to the regular ones,” said Barik, who added that NBRI has been working on it for the past couple of months.

Highlighting the specifications of the green crackers, he said they have been made by replacing chemical substances with the substances prepared from the plants. “Be it the oxidising agent, chemical salts or other substances, all are of plant origin. Thus on bursting, the cracker produces less pollution,” he added.

“For instance, an ecofriendly anaar (fountain) curtails the particulate matter by 40 per cent. Another joint venture of CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) is set to test bijli cracker, the speciality of which is that it doesn’t contain any ash that is generally used as desiccants (a drying agent),” adds another scientists with NBRI.

Scientists said the herbal firecracker idea was the brainchild of science and technology minister Harsh Vardhan, who announced it in January this year. “Since then CSIR labs have been working on it,” a senior scientist added.

The scientists said the green crackers have been sent to the petroleum and explosives safety organisation (PESO) for safety checks, after which manufacturers can go ahead with their production.

On Monday, Vardhan also announced the arrival of green crackers in Delhi, saying the ‘formula’ would be shared with the cracker making industries soon.

In his statement, Vardhan said: “The first-of-its-kind testing facility was developed at NEERI in Nagpur, where the modified chemical combination was tested to modify and control the emission with colours, smoke, height of lighting, brightness and ability to burst. The Tamil Nadu firecrackers’ association was involved in this experiment.”