Cracker ban: UP undecided, Haryana relaxes restrictions
LUCKNOW: Uncertainty prevails over sale of crackers in Uttar Pradesh even as Deepavali is only a few days away.
The Uttar Pradesh government has not yet issued any clear advisory on sale of crackers after certain Hindu leaders objected to the ban on firecrackers by the Delhi government. Stockists and retail sellers of firecrackers say they don’t know whether they will be allowed to sell fireworks this year or not.
“I hold a stock of firecrackers but the area police is not allowing me to set up shop. Diwali is only a few days away and then we will have the wedding season. But we still don’t know what to do,” said Zaheer, who sells firecrackers. His family deals in wholesale of firecrackers. In Prayagraj, firecracker sellers are selling ‘green crackers’, which are low on environmental and sound pollution. On Saturday, BJP MP Sakshi
Maharaj had kicked up a controversy when he said that “Deepavali will be celebrated without crackers only when Bakrid (Eid al-Adha) is celebrated without animal slaughter”.
Meanwhile, hinting that the Haryana government may modify its ban on firecrackers, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said people would be allowed to burst crackers for 2 hours on Deepavali. The BJP leader, however, did not mention a dedicated time for this activity.
“We have noticed that coronavirus cases have been increasing since the time air pollution started rising. Haryana’s daily Covid case count had come down to 1,000. This has now increased to 2,011 cases today. So, we took a decision (banned sale and bursting of firecrackers) to safeguard people’s health. However, for those who want to burst crackers, we will allow for two hours,” Khattar said.