Nagpur bench pulls up police over firecracker ban, seeks report on 15 days of action

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has observed that the police are not serious about enforcing the firecracker ban. The court said bursting firecrackers on public roads and other crowded places is prohibited, yet the order is being violated.

The bench directed the administration to submit a list of vendors who have obtained licences to sell firecrackers. The court also asked whether the licences carry a condition that firecrackers producing noise above 55 decibels will not be sold. The High Court has also sought details of the action the police have taken in the past 15 days.

The same hearing also took up a complaint of noise pollution from a construction site under the Ambazari police station limits in Nagpur. The court reprimanded the police for taking no action on the complaint. The police and the administration have been ordered to file an affidavit by November 3. The hearing was held before a bench of Justice Urmila Joshi-Phalke and Justice Raj Wakode.

Earlier, on Monday (October 26), the Bombay High Court had expressed displeasure. The Maharashtra government had proposed a campaign against bursting firecrackers, but no Bollywood actor came forward to help. The court reminded celebrities that this was the time to repay their debt to society. The state government was also told plainly that public money should not be "wasted" on bringing a celebrity into the campaign.

Minister of State for Home Pankaj Bhoyar, speaking on these issues, said the court's directions would be followed fully. According to him, firecracker vendors will also be inspected if required.

Concern has grown also because there appears to be no clear system to catch violations. The Nagpur Municipal Corporation had permitted 831 firecracker shops up to October 16. This raises the question of how pollution rules will be enforced during Diwali. Following the High Court's remarks, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has issued guidelines on the use of "green crackers", or environment-friendly firecrackers. Compliance with noise and emission limits has also been made mandatory. However, according to sources, there has been no testing of the noise level of firecrackers being sold in the city or of the chemicals in them.

The municipal corporation's fire brigade department issues a "no-objection certificate" (NOC) to vendors. For this, Rs 1,000 is charged as an environment fee and Rs 3,000 for safety arrangements. Even so, it remains unclear how compliance with noise and emission norms will be monitored.

Under the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board guidelines, bursting firecrackers on main roads, lanes, footpaths and other public places is prohibited. Firecrackers are also banned within 100 metres of "silence zones" such as hospitals, educational institutions, government offices and courts. Noisy firecrackers may not be burst between 10 pm and 6 am, and even in private premises the prescribed noise standards must be followed.