New Delhi: Having restricted manufacturing and sale of all other types of firecrackers, the Supreme Court has asked the Centre to submit before it the norms and formulations of producing the ‘green crackers’.
The Ministry of Environment and Forest and the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO) are required to submit these details by January 22.
In October, the Supreme Court had restricted the use of fireworks during all events to an 8-10 pm window. On Christmas and New Year eve, the Court set the permissible time slot from 11:55 pm till 12:30 am. It had then ordered that only crackers with reduced emission and ‘green crackers’ can be manufactured and sold.
However, even as it banned production and sale of all other kinds of firecrackers, confusion prevailed over the definition and formulations of ‘green crackers’.
Apart from criticism over ignoring the religious rights of people who wanted to celebrate festivals with fireworks, the court judgment was also questioned over lack of clarity on what would comprise ‘green crackers’. Manufacturers, too, raised queries before the court regarding definition and formulation of the ‘green crackers’.
The manufacturers requested the bench headed by Justice AK Sikri to seek clarity from the central government and the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO) regarding the norms and the compositions of the ‘green crackers’.
At this, the bench also cited its judgment in October wherein the government’s submissions was recorded that the authorities proposed to tackle the pollution problem due to firecrackers in Diwali and at other occasions by use of ‘green crackers’.
Green crackers were then described as low emission sound and light emitting functional crackers with PM reduction by 30-35% and significant reduction in NOx and SO2. The government had then also pointed out that these were pending approval of the PESO.
In its final order, the top court had thus allowed only ‘green crackers’ but it was later submitted before the bench by several parties that the Ministry of Environment and Forest was yet to make public the guidelines approved by the PESO for manufacturing the ‘green crackers’. Hence, the bench recently asked the PESO to adduce the norms so as to end the uncertainty.
“Before the next date of hearing PESO shall also file norms and formulations which are required for producing ‘green crackers’, as stated in the affidavit of the Ministry of Environment and Forest,” ordered the Court.
It also asked the Central and state pollution control boards to submit their reports on data on pollution caused by the bursting of firecrackers during Diwali in November. The bench will hear the case next on January 22.
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