NEW DELHI: The National Green tribunal (NGT), on Monday, October 2, sent a notice to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and four state governments regarding whether the use of fireworks should be prohibited from November 7 onwards, till the end of the month. The notice has been issued in the interest of public health and environment. A board lead by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, Chairperson, NGT, asked for a response from MoEFCC, Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi Pollution Control Committee, the governments of Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and the Police Commissioner of Delhi. NGT also assigned senior advocate Raj Panjwani and advocate Shibani Ghosh as advisers of the court in the matter.
The notice was issued as a result of a plea filed by Santosh Gupta from the Indian Social Responsibility Network, requesting the tribunal to take some actions to prohibit the use of firecrackers in the NCR as the air quality is deteriorating day by day. It will also greatly affect the on-going pandemic situation. The application stated that switching to green crackers is not the solution to the situation as it will also produce smoke which will lead to poor visibility, hazy conditions and asphyxia.