Vehicles seem to be 'bigger' contributor to pollution than firecrackers: SC

The Supreme Court also asked the Centre if there could be any comparative study to see pollution caused by both.

The Supreme Court Tuesday said why people were "running after" firecracker industries when it seems that automobiles were "bigger" contributor to pollution, and asked the Centre whether there was any comparative study on pollution caused by both.

While expressing serious concern over loss of jobs of people involved in manufacture and sale of firecrackers, a bench of Justices S A Bobde and S A Nazeer said, "We do not wish to generate unemployment."

"Is there any comparative study on what proportion of pollution is caused by firecrackers and what proportion is caused by automobiles? It seems you are running after firecrackers, but bigger pollution contributor is perhaps vehicles," the bench told Additional Solicitor General A N S Nadkarni, who was appearing for the Centre.

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The top court said, "You must tell us some way of preventing unemployment also. We cannot have people unemployed and hungry. There are areas where firecrackers can be used."

"We cannot give them (those who have lost jobs) money. We cannot support their families.

Unemployment is there," the bench said.

The bench also raised a question as to how manufacture of firecrackers could be stopped if the trade is legal and people have licence to carry out the business.

"Nobody has tested this in relation to Article 19 (which says all citizens shall have the right to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business). If the trade is legal and you have the licence for this, then how can you stop this? How can you leave people unemployed?" the bench observed.

The court was hearing a plea which has sought a complete ban on use of firecrackers across the country on the ground that it gives rise to pollution.

The apex court had last year said people in the country can burst firecrackers only from 8 pm to 10 pm on Diwali and other festivals, and had allowed the manufacture and sale of only "green crackers" which have low emission of light, sound and harmful chemicals.

During the hearing on Tuesday, the ASG told the bench that the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) and other expert agencies were experimenting and they have come up with composition of "green crackers".

Regarding the use of barium nitrate, which was earlier banned by the apex court, Nadkarni said, "Barium was banned in firecrackers by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Supreme Court also banned it.

Post-Diwali pollution: Many unhappy over violation of SC order in Delhi-NCR

Many wonder how people cannot understand the repercussions of bursting crackers.

A day after Diwali, there were searching questions and some anguish too as a hazy morning dawned over the Delhi-NCR region, with many residents voicing their helplessness at the violation of the Supreme Court's 8-10 pm deadline of bursting firecrackers.

Delhi recorded its worst air quality of the year on Thursday morning, with the air quality index jumping to 574 that falls in the severe-plus emergency category -- meaning that even healthy people may suffer from respiratory illnesses on a prolonged exposure to such air.

"Delhi is a gas chamber for TB patients like me. We are caught in a bind. If we escape TB, then we will die of pollution," Hasmukh Rai, a senior citizen of Mayur Vihar.

"In this season, when everybody is talking of bringing ordinances on a variety of issues, why can't politicians join hands and bring an ordinance to ban stubble burning?" he asked.

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South Delhi resident Sagarika Sharma said she had lost her mother to lung cancer last year due to this hazardous pollution. "My mother was not a smoker or drinker, but yes, she was guilty of living in Delhi."

Sharma wonders how people cannot understand the repercussions of bursting crackers. "I understand they want to celebrate, but at the cost of digging one's own grave!"

Even as the police launched a crackdown the violators and made multiple arrests, several people said, for them, Diwali meant bursting firecrackers.

"Since childhood, we have been bursting crackers on Diwali. We do not understand green or red crackers. What we know is that it is a symbol of the festival for us and we will continue doing it," said Himanshu Bhalla, a Gurgaon resident.

Another resident of Lajpat Nagar, who did not wish to be identified, said the order of the top court came out to o late and and she cannot forgo the celebration of the festival over it.

Environmental activists said the police needed to be supported by governments to strictly enforce the ban.

"The judiciary has given our executive the necessary tools. We request our lawmakers to support our executive and all three arms of our democracy to work together to protect citizens health at this time of national health emergency," said Jyoti Pande Lavakare, co-founder, Care for Air NGO.

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