Due to the continually dropping levels of the Air Quality Index (AQI) dipping to the hazardous level category in Delhi and some of the other surrounding cities post the Diwali festival, the discussion on Supreme Court orders with regards to regulation of firecrackers and burning of things has again gained limelight.
The Supreme Court has, however, over the past few years passed several orders that did provide directions in order to regulate persistent issues like the manufacture and sale of firecrackers, emission of various vehicles and air pollution and so on. In spite of such cautious directions, the enforcement mechanisms all across the country have still remained weak which is why this problem still persists today.
Due to the worsening pollution levels in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) for almost two weeks post-Diwali, the Supreme Court banned the sale and stocking of crackers on November 25, 2016, in Delhi and the NCR region.
The Supreme Court also issued on October 29, 2021, a certain number of directions to help ensure that there is a strict implementation of earlier orders that had banned the usage of barium-based chemicals in the firecrackers and thus only allowing the use of “green crackers”.
