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NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday authorized the use of "green" firecrackers in Diwali next month to try to reduce pollution, but how the rules will be enforced or not There was a safe environment fireworks.
A woman and her son are sitting in their firecrackers shop in the old quarters of Delhi, India, on October 17, 2018. REUTERS / Adnan Abidi
The court banned the sale of firecrackers at the Hindu festival last year, but partygoers bought it from neighboring states and the air pollution in New Delhi was multiplied by 18.
Each year, firecracker smoke covers Delhi and its satellite cities in a haze that can drag on for days when the wind speed decreases in cold weather, exacerbating the pollution caused by the burning of crop residues, gas and gas. Exhaust and industrial gases.
Activists in India, home to the 14 most polluted cities in the world, have asked the court to issue a new ban on fireworks before Diwali, when millions of firecrackers are lit.
Environmentalist Vimlendu Jha said there was no safe firework for the environment and criticized the court's decision while others had expressed concerns about how the order could be executed.
"Your only decision to allow the sale and use of firecrackers in the current times, while half of our country turns into a gas chamber, will kill toddlers, children and people older people, "said Jha in a Tweet.
But authorities have been reluctant to impose a total ban in order to avoid offending millions of Hindus across the country, for which Diwali is one of the biggest festivals.
A bench of two judges said that firecrackers would be allowed during Diwali, Christmas and New Year, under certain conditions.
Only "safe and green firecrackers" would be allowed, for a maximum of two hours on Diwali, and only in designated areas such as parks. Online sales have been banned.
"This decision should have been made sooner, because the manufacturers are ready to use all sorts of firecrackers and it will be very difficult to stop them," said Sunil Dahiya, a Greenpeace activist.
New Delhi accounts for nearly half of India's demand for firecrackers, although Diwali is celebrated nationwide.
"These celebrations should not be spoiled. These prohibition demands deliberately target Hindu festivals, "said Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, spokesman for the ruling party's Delhi unit, the Bharatiya Janata.
But Judge Arjan Kumar Sikri said that a balance should be found between religious practices and the protection of public health.
"If a particular religious practice threatens the health and life of people, it is not entitled to protection," Sikri said.
On Tuesday, Delhi's air quality index, which measures the concentration of toxic particles, rises to more than 300 in parts of the city, well above the safety limit of 100.
Last week, hundreds of protesters from conservative Hindu groups challenged a Supreme Court ruling allowing women of childbearing age to enter a Hindu temple in Kerala in the south of the country, saying it would attack on a secular tradition.
For a graph on pollution in India, see tmsnrt.rs/2OnHG61
Additional report by Suchitra Mohanty; Written by Neha Dasgupta; Edited by Sanjeev Miglani and Nick Macfie
