Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday demanded an “immediate” response from the Delhi government and police to the ban – which seems to exist on paper only – against firecrackers during Diwali, a ban that is announced, and ignored, every year, resulting in a suffocating blanket of toxic air smothering the national capital and surrounding regions for days after the festival is celebrated.
The court issued notice to the Delhi government, led by the Aam Aadmi Party, and the police, which reports to the Union Home Minister, to explain steps taken to implement and enforce the ban this year, as also measures for the next to “enforce a complete ban” on firecrackers.
“There are widespread news reports the ban on firecrackers (in Delhi NCR) was not implemented at all… this was supposed to be an important measure to reduce pollution,” Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih said this afternoon, as they continued a long-running hearing into the air quality crisis that consumes Delhi every year.
