The eastern zonal bench of the National Green Tribunal has directed the state environment secretary to file an affidavit in four weeks on the implementation of the orders of the Supreme Court and the state government on QR codes on green fireworks.

The direction came following a petition alleging widespread violation of rules in regard to the sale of green fireworks in Calcutta last Diwali.

The bench has also asked the state pollution control board (PCB) to state the basis of its decision to place green fireworks in the “white” category (less polluting) instead of the “red” category (highly polluting).

Such labelling, environment activists have alleged, allows the PCB to take its hands off fireworks monitoring and may lead to more violations. “We are studying the order and will respond,” a PCB official said.

The order, in response to a petition filed by environment activist and retired state pollution control board chief law officer Biswajit Mukherjee and another person, was passed by the bench of Justice R. Amit Sthalekar and expert member Arun Kumar Verma on September 26.

“We, therefore, direct... Principal Secretary, Department of Environment, Government of West Bengal to file his personal affidavit to show how the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court as well as the various circulars of the state government have been implemented...” reads the order.

Only green fireworks with valid QR codes can be sold but the petition alleged several instances of violation of the orders.

The bench referred to the eight “violations” flagged by the petition. They include the absence of NEERI (National Environmental Engineering Research Institute) certification, lack of mention of the chemical compounds used in the fireworks and the presence of banned barium in the fireworks.

In the context of putting green fireworks in the non-polluting category, the bench said: “As per the affidavit of the Pollution Control Board, Green Crackers have been put in ‘white’ category without indicating the Pollution Index (and) we therefore direct the Pollution Control Board to file its affidavit indicating the Pollution Index (PI) of Green Crackers.”

The PI measures the degree of pollution based on the scores of air pollution, water pollution and hazardous waste. According to the Union environment, forest and climate change ministry, industrial sectors with PI scores of 60 and above fall in the “red” category, 41 to 59 in the “orange” category, 21 to 40 in the “green” category and less than 20 in the “white” category.

“It is strange how the state PCB turned the fireworks sector from the highest polluting ‘red’ category, as it was listed earlier, to the least polluting ‘white’ category. We feel this has slackened the monitoring of fireworks,” said petitioner Biswajit Mukherjee.

Mukherjee also complained about the mushrooming of illegal fireworks units across the state which, he said, has led to the loss of nearly 100 lives in explosions since 2009.