State PCB to help in screening fireworks sold ahead of Diwali

With less than two weeks to go for Diwali, WBPCB Wednesday said its teams will accompany and assist police and the administration to screen fireworks and firecrackers sold in the markets in the coming days.

The West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) personnel will check those sold in the government approved ‘bazi bazars’ (cracker market) too to ensure that they do not violate the limits fixed for sound and air pollution, the body’s chairman Kalyan Rudra said.

The ‘bazi bazars’, from where permissible green firecrackers will be sold, will begin at the Kolkata Maidan and elsewhere from November 6.

The pollution control body personnel will also check that packets carry the mandatory QR code. The code certifies that the fireworks carry certificates from National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and are manufactured by registered fireworks units, Rudra said.

NEERI is the sole certifying central agency for firecrackers.

“WBPCB’s role in the drive will be to assist and guide the law enforcing authorities by providing technical guidance. As per the state notification the sound limit of the green crackers is about 125 decibel. Necessary instruction has already been passed on to the administration of different districts by the state government,” he said.

The secretary of Sabuj Manch, an NGO, Naba Dutta said that the state’s decision to suddenly raise the sound pollution benchmark from 90 to 125 decibel before the festival and allow fireworks and firecrackers fair in the metro and other cities of West Bengal will lead “grave danger to the environment during the festive season”.

The NGO was involved in monitoring the sound level during previous Diwali/Kali Puja nights and Chhat festivals.

He said: “While all the fairs are being shifted from Kolkata Maidan in deference to a high court order years back, the state administration and the defence ministry are allowing the fireworks association to hold the ‘bazi bazar’ before and during the Diwali/Kali Puja this year. This shows the respective government’s attitude to the issue of sound and air pollution which may reach alarming levels if no regulations are followed.”

Sabuj Manch may take legal steps if no action is taken on the matter, Dutta said.

Environmentalist Somendra Mohan Ghosh said the maximum sound limit of 90 decibels for fire crackers was maintained during the last two decades despite the clearance of the 125 decibel limit by Supreme Court. “It is very difficult to fathom why the state suddenly changed the noise level from 90 to 125 decibel through the notification.

“We all know Kolkata is already one of the noisiest cities in the world due to high human population density and excessive number of vehicles on the roads,” he added.

Chairman of Sara Bangla Atas Baji Unnayan Samity (All Bengal Fireworks Makers and Sellers Organisation) Babla Roy said only green fireworks will be sold from the ‘bazi bazar’ at the Maidan.

The Burrabazar Fireworks Dealers Association, which is hosting the ‘bazi bazar’ in collaboration with the Sara Bangla Atas Baji Unnayan Samity, got the possession of the land at the Maidan on October 31 from the Army, he said.

“In the years before the pandemic the bazi bazar was held at the grounds adjacent to Shahid Minar (in Esplanade area) which does not belong to the main Kolkata Maidan area. The place is further than the stipulated distance from Victoria Memorial to check any pollution threat.

“The bazi bazar is being held at the same place this year too. So the objection by some environmentalists has no basis. It may deprive the livelihood of thousands of poor people, who have been trained to produce green fireworks,” Roy said.

The state Environment Minister Gulam Rabbani could not be contacted despite several attempts.

The defence ministry gave its nod on October 27 to host the 16-day long bazi bazar at the Shahid Minar ground from October 31 to November 15.