The city police are going to issue advisories for highrise buildings and general people to ensure compliance with a court order on bursting of crackers during Diwali.
Specific guidelines are being drafted for highrises while a standard operating procedure is being prepared for checking cars to prevent the smuggling of illegal crackers.
Sources in the Kolkata police headquarters said police stations will hold meetings with representatives of the residents’ welfare associations and convey to them the importance of using legal crackers only between 8pm and 10pm on Diwali night.
“Every year, a majority of the cases of crackers bursting beyond the stipulated time, as ordered by the court, are reported from highrise apartments.So, we have decided to create more awareness about the deadline for bursting green crackers,” said an officer at Lalbazar.
“We will try to tell them that if incidents of bursting firecrackers are reported from a housing complex or a highrise building, the police should be given access to the terrace or the lawn where they are being burst,” the officer said.
Often, cops are barred or their entry into a building is delayed, apparently to remove evidence of banned crackers being burst, the officer said.
The police promised to raise awareness in the run-up to Diwali about the green-cracker only norm.
“We will spread the word that bursting or possessing illegal crackers can attract penal charges under section 9(b)(1)(b) of the Explosives Act that can land the offender in jail for up to three years. A fine of up to Rs 5,000 can also be imposed,” said the officer.
According to a court order, only the use of green crackers formulated and endorsed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-National Environmental Engineering Research (NEERI), which can create a noise of up to 125 decibels if measured from 4m from the source, are permissible.
Checks on vehicles will be intensified, officers said.
“Although people are requested to purchase green crackers only from state approved-Bazi Bazars, every year several people buy green crackers from illegal cracker factories,” said the officer.
A customer can tell valid green crackers from illegal ones by scanning a QR code that should be on the cracker box. If genuine, a certificate with details of the manufacturer, the firework composition and the sign and seal from CSIR-NEERI will be generated.