Bursting crackers: Residents ignore High Court time limit

Nikhila Pant Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, October 20

The directive issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court restricting the time for bursting of crackers from 6.30 to 9.30 pm went up in smoke as residents of the city continued to burst crackers well beyond the time limit.

“The time restriction had little effect on the residents. It was common to see that the residents kept bursting crackers even after the permissible time limit. Children had been bursting crackers since morning on Diwali and continued to do so even on the next day with no one to stop them from doing so. While the HC direction was aimed at lowering the air and noise pollution levels, lack of proper implementation made sure that the time limit was not followed,” said NK Gosain, principal of Malwa College.

Social activist MM Behl said lack of implementation of the HC ruling boosted the morale of residents as there was no one to curtail the menace.

“The district administration and police failed miserably in making sure that the time limit was followed by the residents. PCR vans were stationed at certain points in the city but there was no check on bursting of crackers on the streets and alleys,” he said.

Happy Singh, who owns a cloth shop on Factory Road in Rampura Phul, said around 11 pm yesterday, two groups of youngsters, in an inebriated state, were bursting rockets horizontally.

“One of the rockets swerved towards my shop but any untoward incident didn’t occur as the shutter was down. When some residents tried to stop the youngsters from doing it, they misbehaved and used foul language. An onlooker then called the police to disperse the crowd,” Singh said.

SDM Sakshi Sawhney said the district administration had imposed Section 144 in the city and had also stationed PCR vans.

“Police personnel were patrolling in the city to check the bursting of cracking before and after the HC time limit. The residents should also have taken it upon themselves to comply with the HC direction and stick to the time limit,” the SDM said.