(PTI) The West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) Tuesday welcomed the Supreme Court’s order which permitted the sale and manufacture of low emission, “green” firecrackers countrywide but fixed a two-hour time period from 8 pm to 10 pm for bursting them on Diwali and other festivals.
“We have been fighting to curb air pollution during Diwali since the year 1995 and largely been successful to contain the same in our region for past several years. The WBPCB welcomes Tuesday’s order of the apex court,” WBPCB Chairman Kalyan Rudra told PTI.
He said the Board had already put in force a mechanism to stop the supply and sale of firecrackers beyond permissible decibel sound limits (90 decibel) in the past couple of years.
“We have the mechanism already and Diwali had been largely free of loud sound emitting firecrackers here for past several years which had been made possible with the help of police and other government agencies. We will ensure it is in place this year as well and sit for talks with all concerned after Lakshmi puja. We will examine the court order in detail,” Rudra said.
The WPCB chairman also welcomed the decision of the apex court to restrain e-commerce websites from selling firecrackers which were beyond the permissible limit, adding that the pollution control body will ensure it is enforced totally in coordination with the state police.
On being asked about the pollution control body’s plan to implement the court order in West Bengal, where crackers are burst on successive days of Diwali and Kali Puja unlike in the north India where they are mostly burst on Diwali, the WBCB official said, “As I said, in next few days we will chalk out ways of implementing this”.