After SC Ban On Firecrackers In Delhi/NCR, Three Minors Seek Nationwide Ban [Read Application]

In the wake of Delhiites punching holes in the Supreme Court ban on firecrackers this Diwali and fearing repeat of the annual air pollution hazard in the coming wedding season, three children - Arjun Gopal and two others - have moved the apex court seeking nationwide ban on firecrackers and a dedicate police helpline for lodging complaints in this regard.

In an application filed before the Supreme Court, the minors prayed for ban on the possession, sale and bursting of fireworks across the country.

The children rued how the ban this Diwali was made a mockery of with firecrackers being sold by traders from their houses and police not acting on any complaint against those indulging in bursting crackers late into the night.

The application sought nationwide ban as it relied on news report about how firecrackers caused pollution in Chennai leading to flight delays due to smog, even as the court was informed by "the manufacturers and dealers during the hearing on October 6, 2017, that southern and coastal cities like Chennai do not suffer pollution due to fireworks".

Country-wide ban ahead of wedding season

The applicant shared how traders have made it abundantly clear that from November 11, 2017, they would commence the sale of fireworks.

"They have not, however, explained where they have procured the fireworks from, considering that the transport of manufactured fireworks remains consistently banned by the Supreme Court from 11.11.2016 till date, and that the entire existing stock has already been utilised this year.

"It would be necessary to refer to their GST documents and other transactions to ascertain the exact amount of fireworks they had sold in 2017 and also details of the stocks they have obtained along with the name of the manufacturers and wholesalers," it said.

The application also shared concern about demand of firecrackers in the wedding season.

"...as the wedding season commences from 1.11.2017, there is going to be a substantial demand for fireworks at the worst time for the city’s air. This will continue till January and February through Christmas and New Year where the effects of the fireworks will remain for several days due to winter weather conditions, it said, reiterating need for a nationwide ban and a more proactive police.

Dedicated helpline for complaint against crackers

Praying for a dedicated helpline for receiving complaints related to firecrackers, the application shares how several residents of Safdarjung Enclave made police complaints against bursting of firecrackers in their area this Diwali, but in vain.

The parents of minor Arjun Gopal also made several phonecalls to the police but no action was taken.

"Specific calls were made to Sub-Inspector Rakesh Yadav at Vasant Vihar police station at 10:45 pm and SHO Sushil Kumar at New Friends Colony Police Station at 11:05 pm. Neither of this amounted to anything as the bursting of fireworks continued unabated. This was compounded by the fact that there is no dedicated helpline for this purpose and the phone numbers available online, including 100, are usually busy," it said.

What punched holes in ban this Diwali

 The application also lists several reasons which failed the ban this Diwali. Some of them are:

• Illegal entry of fireworks manufactured in 2017, which have been banned entry and some of which bear the year of manufacture as 2017... Many boxes now completely have the date missing.


• Many traders flouted the ban and continued selling fireworks either from their homes or elsewhere and this was uncovered by investigative journalists.


• The traders also gifted and sold crackers online in order to get rid of stock, despite them not having valid licences to do so.


• Despite a ban on transporting the stock outside Delhi, the traders dumped stocks in many UP cities, including Agra and Meerut, which are equally affected by high levels of pollution.