Calcutta High Court has banned the use of all forms of firecrackers, including green crackers, in celebrating the upcoming occasions of Diwali, Kali Puja, Chaath Puja, Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

A division bench said that “only wax or oil-based diyas might be used”.

The cracker ban, which covers the whole of Bengal, will also apply to celebrating Jagaddhatri Puja and Guru Nanak’s birthday.

The bench gave primacy to the “right to live” and citizens’ larger interests, choosing to overlook the “smaller interest” of those dependent on the firecracker industry.

“We are not convinced that firecrackers of any form, either green or of any other category, ought to be permitted to be used during the coming festive season,” the bench of Justices Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Aniruddha Roy said, passing an order on a batch of public interest litigation petitions.

The order cited the “pandemic situation, which is getting marginally worse by the day” and “the fact that even moderate Air Quality Index (AQI) can cause severe difficulties for people suffering from respiratory problems”.

On Wednesday, the state pollution control board had issued a directive banning all types of fireworks, except “green fireworks” that could be burst for two hours from 8pm on Diwali (November 4).

But the division bench of Justices Bhattacharyya and Roy said that even green crackers would not be allowed.

“…We find nothing to establish that there is any mechanism in place at present to ascertain whether crackers being sold or burst/ lighted are only green crackers, complying with the norms,” the order said.

The bench added: “It would be an impossible task for the police and/ or law-enforcement agencies to ascertain the veracity of the certificates of the crackers.”

On the livelihood of those dependent on the firecracker industry, the order said: “It is submitted that, keeping in view the larger interest of the citizens of the state, the smaller interest of the firecracker manufacturers and all concerned with such business might be overlooked.”

The bench observed: “Right to live is the fundamental right of the people. This right cannot be curbed by allowing the firecrackers to be used.”

It said that many were suffering from breathing problems amid the pandemic. “Their problem will further increase if firecrackers are allowed (on) festive days.”

The bench directed the authorities to take steps so that firecrackers were not sold in markets and impose strong measures against those found guilty of violating the court directive.

“The State should ensure that there is no use or display or bursting of firecrackers of any type at all,” the court said.

Last year, too, Calcutta High Court had imposed a ban on the sale and use of firecrackers during Diwali. But firecrackers were burst across the city.