Delhi govt issues notification to Police, Divisional Commissioner to devise mechanisms to implement cracker ban

KEY STORY

• Government issued a notification directing Delhi Police and Divisional Commissioner to devise mechanisms to implement cracker ban, informed Environment Minister of Delhi, Gopal Rai on November 06 while addressing a press conference.

• He said, “Today govt issued a notification directing Delhi Police & Divisional Commissioner to devise mechanisms to implement cracker ban. On Nov 9, Environment Dept, Divisional Commissioner & Delhi police officials have been called for meeting to lay out action plan.” To combat air pollution, the Delhi government banned all types of firecrackers including green crackers.

• He further said that the government will soon spray it in the remaining 200 acres, approximately, too, and will then form a 15-member committee to study its performance.

  “In order to turn stubble into fertiliser the Delhi government, along with PUSA, has sprayed a bio-decomposer in various parts of Delhi. It has now been done in approximately 1,800 acres of farmland. In the next three to four days we will spray it in the whole 2,000 acre area,” Gopal Rai said at a press conference here.

• “To see its impact, a 15-member committee is being formed which will prepare a report. The report will also be presented to the Supreme Court,” he added.

• Earlier in the day Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had said that in a bid to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from worsening due to increased air pollution, the Delhi government has banned all types of firecrackers from November 7 to 30.

• “The ban on crackers has been imposed in view of air pollution. This time around, there is pollution and COVID-19. When firecrackers are burst on Diwali, people are unable to breathe properly for around 3-4 hours late at night due to air pollution,” Jain told reporters here.

CONCLUSION

• Responding to whether “green cracker” will be included in the ban, Jain said that there is a pandemic spreading around the globe and people should refrain from bursting crackers.

• Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday urged residents of the national capital to refrain from bursting firecrackers this Diwali and implored them to join him in Lakshmi puja, at a set time, on the day.

• The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief said that with the air quality severely affected in Delhi bursting crackers would only add to the pollution amid COVID-19.