The Green Tribunal is expected to pronounce its order at around 10:30 am today.
Highlights
- NGT to pronounce its order on imposition of ban on firecrackers across 23 states and UTs.
- The Green Tribunal is expected to pronounce its order at around 10:30 am today.
- It had earlier issued notice to the Environment Ministry, CPCB and others and sought response over firecrackers ban.
On Wednesday, the tribunal expanded its ambit of hearing cases on pollution by use of firecrackers beyond the Delhi-NCR region and issued notices to 19 states and Union Territories where air quality is beyond norms.
On Wednesday, alluding to 122 non-attainment cities in 23 states and Union Territories, which have been consistently showing poorer air quality, the green tribunal said that it may have to consider direction to prohibit use of fire crackers during the period air quality is beyond a threshold to protect the health of the vulnerable groups.
Non-attainment cities include Delhi, Varanasi, Bhopal, Kolkata, Noida, Muzaffarpur, Mumbai, Jammu, Ludhiana, Patiala, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Kolkata, Patna, Gaya, Chandigarh etc.
Licences for sale of firecrackers suspended in Delhi
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police, on Sunday, suspended all licences issued for the sale of firecrackers in the national capital and said that further action will be taken on the directions of the NGT. “All licences issued for the sale of firecrackers have been suspended and further action will be taken on NGT directions,” Delhi Police tweeted.
Delhi Police also arrested seven persons for allegedly selling firecrackers in the national capital despite the ban and recovered nearly 600 kgs of firecrackers from them.
