Pune: ‘Green’ firecrackers widely available, doctors contest usefulness

What are green firecrackers?
According to the CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, green crackers must have a reduction in size of shell, elimination of ash usage, reduced usage of raw materials in the composition, and/or use of additives as dust suppressants to reduce particulate matter, SO2, and NO2 emissions.

This must lead to a minimum particulate matter reduction of 30% or a minimum of particulate matter reduction of 20% and 10% or more gaseous emission reduction, compared to regular crackers. These ‘green firecrackers’ also have types like SWAS (safe water releaser), SAFAL (safe minimal aluminium) and STAR (safe thermite cracker).

Availability of green firecrackers
Owner of Sahakar Nagar Fataka Mart Prasad Dashrath said, “Only green crackers mandated by the government are available with us. I don’t even know where I would find non-green firecrackers to sell.”

Stating that awareness and demand among the public about green fire-crackers was low, Dashrath said, “No one specifically asks us for green crackers, people only care about which crackers will have a better explosion. But all of our firecrackers are green.” Similarly, almost all the firecrackers at Sejal Fataka Mart near Shri Omkareshwar Temple were from brands like Anil and Supreme, and had a ‘green fireworks’ certification from Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation, Nagpur.

Owner of the mart Nilesh Dadhave said the shop was attracting 300 customers daily but hardly 10% of customers enquire about eco-friendly fireworks. Nearby, the MNS fataka stall also had only green firecrackers. However, hardly 20-30% of customers specifically enquired about them, according to the owner.

Doctors contest effectiveness of green firecrackers
Pulmonologist Dr. Aparna Birajdar, who runs her own clinic and is a consultant doctor at the Sahyadri Hospital, said, “We see a 20-30% increase in respiratory issues during Diwali. If green crackers have just a 30% reduction in pollution, then they are not very useful. In the foggy cold weather in winter, I don’t think it makes much of a difference. I have not seen any difference in my patients’ health due to these ‘green’ crackers.”

Holding similar views, consultant pulmonologist at Ruby Hall Clinic Dr Sneha Tirpude said, “I don’t feel green firecrackers are useful in controlling pollution. In the quest of promoting green crackers over normal crackers, more green firecrackers are lit up, which ends up creating equal amounts of pollution. It is similar to the cigarette vs e-cigarette debate. E-cigarettes might have less nicotine per-puff, but you end up smoking more of them leading to the total sum being more.”