SC's direction on bursting of firecrackers goes up in smoke
New Delhi: The Delhi Police made it very clear from the beginning that any violations of the Supreme court's order on firecrackers would have serious repercussions. On Diwali night, the Delhi police of all district was out on patrolling and making arrests whosoever was found bursting firecrackers post 10 pm. In all, 562 cases were registered under section 188 IPC against violators in general and 310 people were arrested, legal action was taken against 24 violating juveniles under the provision of the Juvenile Justice Act, for not abiding by the Supreme Court's directions.
"Besides, 72 cases were also registered under provisions of Explosive Act and 87 persons arrested for illegal sale of firecrackers. As much as 1,705 kgs of non-green, non-certified firecrackers were recovered. The Supreme Court had fixed 8 pm -10 pm as the time for bursting crackers. Anyone found violating was seriously dealt with," said Madhur Verma, PRO Delhi Police. As much as 10 thousand police personnel were deployed on Diwali night to meet any untoward incident. The Delhi Police commissioner Amulya Patnaik was out too supervising the security arrangements and distributing sweets to policemen deployed.
Many residents and activists voiced their helplessness at the violation of the Supreme Court's 8 pm to 10 pm time limit of bursting firecrackers and expressed anguish both by complaining to concerned authorities and also venting out their anger on Twitter and Facebook.
The Supreme Court had allowed people to burst firecrackers from 8 pm to 10 pm only on Diwali and other festivals. The top court also allowed manufacture and sale of just "green crackers" which have low emission of light, sound and harmful chemicals. Just like Delhi Police, Delhi Fire service too had a busy night. The fire tenders responded to various calls on Diwali night across the city. "Received 271 calls on the night of Diwali. Between 8 pm to 12 am we received 125 calls. Between 6 pm to 6 am we received 226 calls. It means crackers were burst till morning. Number of calls this Diwali was more than last year," said a senior fire official.
A DFS official said that though the number of fire-related calls was more as compared to previous years, there has been a decline in cases of fire triggered by burning of firecrackers.
