Two-hour window to burst crackers on Diwali, Gurpurb

PK Jaiswar

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Amritsar, October 26

The district administration has spared a window of two hours for bursting firecrackers on Diwali festival. Only green firecrackers have been allowed to be burst during the festival season.

Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori said the timings for bursting crackers for different festivals were fixed following the directions of the Supreme Court. He said the timings were fixed for Diwali, Gurupurb, Christmas and New Year celebrations.

He said the crackers would be sold at government approved licence-holder stalls set up at designated places from 10 am to 7.30 pm. He said only green crackers without lithium, mercury, arsenic, lead, thorium salt and other dangerous chemicals would be allowed for sale and anybody found selling banned crackers with dangerous chemicals mixed would be dealt with strictly.

The Deputy Commissioner said as per the orders of the apex court, people can burst crackers from 8 pm to 10 pm while on Gurupurb, it is allowed from 4 am to 5 am and 9 pm to 10 pm. He said on Christmas festival, the timings for bursting crackers would be from 11.55 pm to 12.30 am and on New Year eve, it is allowed from 11.55 pm to 12.30 am. He warned that action would be taken against those found violating these fixed timings, adding that crackers would not be sold on websites and e-commerce sites.

Thori said that for bursting crackers during weddings, the marriage palace owners would have to take licences besides ensuring that all safety norms are in place. He said it was also mandatory for taking licence for bursting crackers before carrying out Shobha Yatra, Nagar Kirtan, Prabhat Pheri and other such programmes. He informed that the bursting of crackers was completed disallowed in densely populated areas.

The DC passed necessary instructions to the Municipal Corporation, SSP, SDMs and executive engineer of PPCB for implementation of these guidelines.

He also appealed to the public to burst the crackers as per the timings fixed following orders of the Supreme Court and Punjab and Haryana High Court. He pointed out that bursting of crackers lead to massive air pollution which has been endangering the lives of people besides having harmful effects on birds and animals.