New Delhi [India], November 2 : Delhi Minister Ashish Sood on Monday welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to permit the use of green firecrackers in Delhi-NCR for two days during Diwali and appealed to people to celebrate the festival responsibly while protecting the environment.
Reacting to the decision, Sood congratulated the people of Delhi and urged them to follow the Supreme Court’s order responsibly.
"Our government has always wanted that, along with protecting the environment, all other sentiments and programmes should also be allowed to continue normally...It is also our responsibility as citizens of Delhi to ensure that everyone celebrates Diwali responsibly in accordance with the Supreme Court's decision,” he said.
He said the government wanted festivals and other programmes to continue normally while ensuring environmental protection, adding that citizens also had a responsibility to celebrate Diwali responsibly.
“Celebrating festivals with happiness while protecting the environment and other social concerns is also our responsibility. This festival teaches us exactly that. Let us protect the environment and celebrate Diwali,” he said.
Meanwhile, Delhi AAP chief Saurabh Bharadwaj questioned the timing of the Supreme Court’s decision, asking why the order was issued at the last minute and whether it could have been taken earlier.
He also raised questions about whether firecracker manufacturers had prior knowledge of the permission and had already manufactured green crackers in large quantities, or whether regular crackers would be labelled as green crackers for sale.
“When did the Supreme Court come to know that Diwali would fall on 8th November? Why did the Supreme Court wait until the last minute? This is mismanagement. Supreme Court teaches management to all governments and everyone else. Should the SC not have done this in a timely manner? Did the manufacturers know that green crackers would be allowed on Nov 7-8 that they had already manufactured such large quantities of green crackers? Or had they manufactured regular crackers and now they would paste a label of 'green cracker' on them for sale?” he asked.
Alleging irregularities during the implementation of similar permissions in the past, Bharadwaj claimed that police personnel had accepted bribes to allow the sale of regular firecrackers by passing them off as green crackers.
“Last time, due to massive fraud and corruption, Police accepted lakhs of Rupees as bribes and allowed the sale of regular crackers passing it off as green crackers,” he said.
He further alleged that the Centre and the Delhi government were involved in the alleged irregularities and claimed that air quality monitoring stations were shut down overnight.
“Centre and Delhi Govt joined in this fraud wherein AQI monitoring stations were shut down overnight...What can you expect from this Govt. Dilliwaale Ram bharose hain...” Bharadwaj said.
The response comes after the Supreme Court has permitted the use of green firecrackers in Delhi-NCR from November 4 to 6 and their bursting between 6 am and 7 am and 8 pm and 10 pm on November 7 and 8.