Sparks fly as India allows ‘green’ fireworks for Diwali

INDIA’s Supreme Court yesterday allowed the use of “green” firecrackers for Diwali next month to curb pollution, but it was unclear how the rules would be enforced or whether there was such a thing as an environmentally safe firework.

The court banned the sale of firecrackers outright during the Hindu festival of lights last year but revellers bought them from neighbouring states and air pollution in New Delhi hit 18 times the healthy limit.

Each year, smoke from firecrackers covers New Delhi and its satellite cities in a haze that can linger for days as wind speeds drop in the cooler weather, adding to pollution caused by the burning of crop residue, vehicle exhausts and industrial gases.

Activists in India, home to the world’s 14 most polluted cities, had petitioned the top court for a complete ban on fireworks as pollution levels rose in the capital, New Delhi, in the run-up to Diwali.

But authorities have been reluctant to enforce an outright ban to avoid offending millions of Hindus across the country, for whom Diwali is one of the biggest festivals. A two-judge Bench said firecrackers would be permitted during Diwali, Christmas and New Year, with conditions.

Only “safe and green firecrackers would be allowed, and for a maximum two hours a day”, television channels quoted the court as saying. Online sales were banned. Delhi’s air quality index, which measures the concentration of poisonous particulate matter, has risen above 300 in recent days.

Anything above 100 is considered unhealthy.

Environmentalist Vimlendu Jha said there was no such thing as an environmentally safe firework and blasted the court decision as others raised concerns about how the court orders will be implemented.

“Your one decision to allow the sale and use of firecrackers in current times, while half of our country turns into a gas chamber, will kill toddlers, children and the elderly,” Jha said in a Tweet.

New Delhi accounts for nearly half of India’s demand for firecrackers although Diwali is celebrated across the country.

A farmer walks a large water buffalo adorned with flowers and exotic head gear before the buffalo parade at the water buffalo races in Chonburi province, Thailand, yesterday. About 300 buffalos take part in the centuries-old water festival which is held every October among rice farmers to celebrate the rice harvest and to mark the end of the Buddhist Lent. | DIEGO AZUBEL