The Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) guidelines prohibiting the sale of synthetic firecrackers are being blatantly ignored by traders. The TSPCB had asked firecracker dealers to sell only green crackers, but most city stalls have only a few green crackers on display, with the rest of the stock being synthetic crackers.
Surprisingly, the TSPCB stated that they are monitoring the stalls alongside the GHMC and that if any stalls are found selling illegal firecrackers, strict action will be taken. However, no such action has been observed on the ground thus far.
There are approximately 1,500 firecracker stalls in the city, and people are seen thronging these stores with only a few days until Diwali.
As a matter of fact, dealers sell more synthetic crackers than green crackers. Green crackers are not mentioned on cracker boxes. According to Rohini, a customer at one of the stalls, there are no QR codes on the packets of the so-called green crackers.
When asked, the dealers stated that 90% of them were selling green crackers. When asked about the TSPCB guidelines, however, they stated that they are leaving the decision to the buyers. They also claim that there was a scarcity of green crackers. Another major issue on which the administration appears to have blinked is the establishment of unlicensed cracker shops in lanes and by-lanes in some colonies, despite fire safety norms.
Even licensed shops were not following fire safety standards such as having a fire extinguisher and no sand in the bucket, according to Suresh, a customer at a shop in Secunderabad.
A senior officer of the Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) stated that the state’s air quality is currently in the satisfactory category. According to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), only green crackers should be permitted where air quality is moderate or satisfactory. He stated that it has been made clear to the traders that they should only sell green crackers, and that it is very easy to determine whether or not the crackers’ box contains green crackers. He mentioned that they have a green logo and a Quick Response (QR) coding system.
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