NGT issues notices to 18 states, UTs including Assam on firecracker pollution

Nov. 5: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday sent notices to 18 states and union territories including Assam to expand the scope of hearing cases on pollution by firecrackers during Diwali. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel sought responses on an urgent basis by November 5 from the mentioned states and the Ministry of Environment and Forests on whether the usage of firecrackers would be banned from November 7 to 30.

The NGT has already issued notice to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana. The bench also observed that Rajasthan and Odisha have already issued a notification to ban the sale and use of firecrackers this year. The green panel sought response from Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

The tribunal said it may have to consider prohibiting the use of firecrackers to protect the health of people in 122 non-attainment cities where air quality, as per record maintained by the CPCB, is generally beyond permissible limits. However, the NGT did not specify the names of cities in Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland where the air quality is beyond the permissible limits.

The plea on which the court issued notice suggested that green crackers will not solve the problem and the smoke from firecrackers will create gas chamber like situations.