Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday appealed to people to shun firecrackers and use only green crackers.
Mamata, who raised the topic twice during the inauguration of two Kali pujas, said firecrackers take away lives. She said the state government was working towards making clusters for green crackers.
The Calcutta High Court in an order on October 11, 2022, said only green firecrackers can be used in Bengal. “There shall be a complete ban on the sale and bursting of all kinds of firecrackers, except green crackers in the state of West Bengal”. The court’s order said green crackers can be burst only for “two hours during Deepawali festival from 8 pm to 10 pm”.
The state pollution control board has also issued orders mentioning the high court’s directives.
On Wednesday, Mamata made the appeal to common people. “Please burst green crackers only. Do not burst firecrackers because they take away lives,” she said during the inauguration of a Kali Puja on Shakespeare Sarani.
At the inauguration of another Kali Puja at Janbazar on SN Banerjee Road, Mamata said her government will set up clusters for green crackers.
“Our government has framed a policy, we will set up clusters of green crackers so that people who have such units do not die. Everyone must pay attention so that no life is lost,” she said.
The only way to identify a green cracker is to scan the QR code on the box.
Any scanner can be used for this. On scanning the code, a certificate should be generated mentioning the name and nature of the fireworks, details like the name and address of the manufacturer, chemical composition of the fireworks and the percentage of reduction in emission, a police officer said.
The certificate should be on the letterhead of the Council Of Scientific And Industrial Research (CSIR)-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and should bear the official seal of the authorised signatory of CSIR-NEERI.
At least eight people were killed and scores injured in a blast at an illegal firecrackers factory in North 24-Parganas’ Duttapukur in August. In May, an explosion at an illegal firework factory at Egra in East Midnapore killed at least nine people and injured several people.
Environment activists slammed the government for allowing illegal firecracker manufacturing units to operate in the state. They alleged that the repeated explosions proved that illegal units thrived in the state.
The order to use green crackers was in force last Diwali, too, but firecrackers were burst across the city.