Delhi govt extends ban on firecrackers to control air pollution menace

New Delhi: Continuing its efforts to tackle air pollution in the national capital, Delhi government has extended a blanket ban on production, storage, sale and use of firecrackers till January 1 next year in the national capital. This time there will also be a ban on online sale and delivery of crackers here.

To curb the pollution menace in Delhi during the winter, several Delhi government departments had a meeting on the winter action plan and discussed 15 points, Delhi Minister of Environment and Forest Gopal Rai said.

Rai tweeted , “In order to save people from the danger of pollution in Delhi, like last year, this time also the production, storage, sale and use of all types of firecrackers are being completely banned, so that people’s lives can be saved.”

“This time there will also be a ban on online sale/delivery of firecrackers in Delhi. This restriction will remain in force till January 1, 2023,” he added.

“Task given to prepare detailed plans to about 30 departments on 15 focus points prepared by the government, instructions have been given to the Environment Department to prepare a detailed winter action plan by taking reports from all the departments by September 15,” he said recently.

Recentelly, as per the global analysis of air quality report , Delhi and Kolkata were ranked first and second in the list of top 10 most polluted cities in the world.

In terms of death, Delhi and Kolkata reported 106 and 99 deaths per 1 lakh population in 2019 which could be attributed to PM2.5 pollution, according to the report.

The study revealed that the PM2.5 reading peaked in November when it was 30 times above the World Health Organization’s safe limit.

As per study, the majority of the 16.7 lakh air pollution-related deaths in India – 9.8 lakh — were caused by PM2.5 pollution, and another 6.1 lakh by household air pollution.

The decision was taken by the government as the world is celebrating “International Day of Clean Air for Blue skies” with the theme “Air We Share”.

According to WHO’s estimates, there are 7 million premature deaths a year, including roughly 600,000 children under the age of 15 years as a consequence of air pollution – without accounting for the many additional millions who suffer from air pollution-related chronic illnesses.