Supreme Court to petitioners challenging Delhi firecracker ban: 'Why increase pollution?'

The Supreme Court on Monday asked refused to lift the ban on firecrackers and said that the matter will be heard again before the Diwali holidays. The court asked the petitioners as to "why do they want to increase the pollution". The top court further added that the order in the special orders for the Delhi-NCR region regarding “pollution" during the festive season, and that the order “is very clear."

The Supreme Court's comments came on BJP leader Manoj Tiwari's challenge to the firecracker ban in the top court. The Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government has put a complete ban on the sale, production and use of crackers till January 1, 2023.

Arrests in illegal firecracker case

Delhi Police's Crime Branch has arrested two men and seized 2,625 Kg of illegal firecrackers from their possession which were to be sold during the upcoming festival season, officials said on Monday.

Mukul Jain, 24, and his nephew Tushar Jain, 19, have been arrested from Mandoli Industrial Area, they said.

Police said that Mukul, a resident of Shahdara, has been in the business of sale and purchase of firecrackers since 2018 while Tushar has been working with Mukul since 2020 and gets paid 12,000 per month.

The arrests came after the Delhi Pollution Control Committee issued directions completely banning the manufacture, storage, selling, delivery through online marketing platforms, and bursting of all types of crackers in Delhi till January 1, a senior police officer said.

Based on the inputs, the team conducted raids in Mandoli Industrial Area, Phase-II, Delhi, where they found cartons containing illegal firecrackers being unloaded from a truck.

A total of 145 cartons containing 2,625 Kg of firecrackers were recovered from the spot.

On enquiry, it was revealed that the godown belonged to Mukul Jain and his relative Tushar was appointed there as caretaker and for record maintenance, said Ravindra Singh Yadav, Special Commissioner of Police (Crime).

"During interrogation, the two revealed that they had procured firecrackers from distributors of Karnal (Haryana) and Sangrur (Punjab) who have their godowns at their respective places.

"The distributors had procured the firecracker from factories situated at Shivakashi, Tamil Nadu. These firecrackers were to be sold in Delhi NCR during the upcoming festival season," the senior police officer said.