A cracker unit at Maheshtala in South 24-Parganas received clearance from the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) to manufacture green fireworks on September 29, around a fortnight before state environment minister Manas Bhunia and pollution board officials openly claimed that there were no green cracker manufacturing units in the state.
Only green fireworks that emit less than 90 decibel (dB) noise limit will be allowed in West Bengal during Diwali, Kolkata Police has said.
The Alipore regional office of the pollution control board had given MT Industries — owned by Rekha Naskar, Trinamool Congress councillor of Ward 30 in Maheshtala Municipality — “consent to operate”, which is the final stage of approval from the PCB.
MT Industries at Putkhali village is among seven units within the Maheshtala police station area that had either applied for “consent to operate” or “consent to establish”.
Bhunia had said on October 13 that, “There is not a single green fireworks unit in the state till now.” WBPCB officials present at the time had corroborated the statement. “None have applied so far. We have 14 valid fireworks units in the state. We have already intimated them that only green fireworks must be manufactured in the state,” a senior PCB official had said.
When contacted on October 16, Bhunia told The Plurals, “I will be talking to PCB officials on Monday and take appropriate corrective measures.”
“As the unit was given clearance at the regional level, we were not aware of it until recently. However, we will look into the clearance order closely,” a senior PCB official told The Plurals on October 16.
South 24-Parganas district magistrate Sumit Gupta also promised to look into the permission granted.
Confirming the clearance, Shukdeb Naskar, leader of an association of fireworks manufacturers and husband of the councillor, said: “We received the PCB’s clearance on the basis of the certificate provided by National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI).”
Asked about fire safety licence, he said, “As manufacturers, we don’t need it (fire licence). This year the unit is only manufacturing non-sound-emitting fireworks because of the confusion prevailing over green fireworks.”
The legal name of the unit is Rekha Naskar while the trading name is MT Industries. Councillor Naskar confirmed that the unit belonged to her.