The state is ill-prepared in enforcing the Supreme Court fiat on cracker bursting for only two hours on Diwali night.

While Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) prefers to pass the enforcement buck by simply issuing an advisory, the state police will wait for complaints to initiate action against violators of the window period of bursting crackers.

“We have issued an advisory today (Friday) to all the districts police heads with copies to the deputy commissioner and police officers so that crackers are burst between 8pm and 10pm during Diwali and Chhath. However, we cannot launch a crackdown and it is up to the district police to do it. We can only create an awareness among the masses on compliance of the directive and on curbing cracker bursting, which is harmful for environment,” said JSPCB member-secretary Rajeev Lochan Bakshi.

A few days before Diwali in October 2018, the Supreme Court had allowed a two-hour window (8pm to 10pm) for bursting of crackers and had asked local administrations to encourage community cracker bursting and also avoid bursting high-decibel crackers.

The JSPCB member-secretary, however, tried to put up a brave face by stating that awareness has indeed led to less people indulging in cracker bursting last year.

“We witnessed a reduction last year and we are confident that people are now environment-conscious and would burst less crackers and that too within the stipulated window,” said Bakshi. Sources in the Ranchi police confirmed having received the directive but expressed doubt on its effective compliance.

“It is not possible to deploy police at every nook and corner and we have a manpower crunch too. We have to deploy forces at strategic places and VIP areas. We can only send patrolling teams to a particular place after receiving complaints of violation of the directive. This will take at least a few minutes. People usually tend to stop bursting crackers on seeing police vans and again start bursting crackers after the van leaves,” said a senior cop in Ranchi.

Ranchi senior superintendent of police Anish Gupta was, however, confident of enforcing the directive. “We will set up quick response teams and all police stations will be asked to beef up vigil and act against violators of the Supreme Court directive,” said Gupta.

A Jamshedpur police officer said they cannot act sternly because of religious sentiments attached with Diwali. “Humesha kanoon ka danda nahi chalaya ja sakta, dharmik bhavnao ka aadar karna padta hai,” the policeman said.

Jharkhand police spokesperson M.L. Meena said the police can act only on complaints. “They will act swiftly on getting complaints on violation,” said Meena.