Delhi govt tells Supreme Court it has imposed complete ban on firecrackers

New Delhi [India], December 19 (ANI): The Delhi government informed the Supreme Court on Thursday that it has imposed a complete ban on the manufacture, storage, selling, including delivery through online marketing platforms and bursting of all kinds of firecrackers in the national capital throughout the year with immediate effect.
In an order issued today, the Delhi government decided to impose a complete ban on firecrackers.
The Haryana government told a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih that it would allow only green crackers.
Rajasthan said it has banned firecrackers completely in areas falling in the national capital Region (NCR), while the Uttar Pradesh government said they have decided against banning the firecrackers completely.
The bench said that the ban will only become effective when all states forming part of NCR take the same decision on the ban of firecrackers.
"For the time being, we direct Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to impose a similar ban which is imposed by Delhi," it ordered.
The top court on December 12 had ordered Delhi government and other NCR States - Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan - to take a final call on prohibiting the use of firecrackers throughout the year.
On the issue of air pollution, the apex court ordered the states falling in the NCR to constitute teams of various officials to ensure strict compliance with the anti-pollution measures under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) IV.
The bench was informed that GRAP-IV has been restored in Delhi-NCR due to worsening air quality.
"We direct NCR states to constitute the teams of members of police, revenue officials to monitor the implementation of GRAP-IV measures. We say that the members so created in this team will work as officers of this court. They will regularly submit report of compliance and breaches to CAQM (Commission for Air Quality Management) so that immediate action be taken by all concerned," ordered the top court.
The top court was hearing the case relating to air pollution in the national capital. (ANI)