How can we ensure people burst only green crackers?: Delhi cops say enforcement uphill task

The court said on Wednesday that the patrol teams must “acquaint themselves with the green cracker products as uploaded in the website of NEERI”, the body that has created the formulations for the crackers.

“In pursuance of the honourable Supreme Court’s order, Delhi Police is committed to ensuring strict compliance with the directives regarding the sale and use of green crackers,” said Sanjay Tyagi, Delhi Police PRO.

However, several police officers conceded that the task of enforcing the court’s directives was difficult, also because Diwali is very close now.

“Along with maintaining law and order and managing the festival rush; police now have the added responsibility of scrutinising applications, looking at where the designated locations for the sale of firecrackers can be, and also carrying out checks against the sale of illegal crackers,” a senior police officer said.

“All of this has to be done in just a couple of days. There is very little time,” the officer said.

Applications can be filled on the website of the licensing unit, or sent to the office of the district Deputy Commissioner of Police. Applicants will have to submit an affidavit committing to taking all required security measures, officers said.

Some police officers said it would be difficult to enforce compliance with the time slots of 6 am to 7 am and 8 pm to 10 pm identified by the SC. “Many people start bursting crackers in the afternoon or early evening,” an officer said.

Officers also pointed to the difficulty of ensuring that people burst only green firecrackers. “We can check during raids whether the cracker is green. But there is no way to tell whether a cracker that was burst was a green cracker. By the time police respond to a complaint or a PCR call, the crackers would have been used already,” an officer said.

Another officer pointed to the contradiction of implementing GRAP Stage 1 restrictions while also allowing firecrackers, even if they are green crackers. In the end, this officer said, the success of the directives will depend to a large extent on the cooperation of citizens.

“We will continue to take maximum legal action,” the officer said.

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