As winter and the Diwali festival approach, the Delhi government has written to the Customs Department to prohibit imports of harmful crackers from any country, and has also written to the Delhi Police to ensure that action is taken against any violation of law.

The letter written by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee cites a 1992 notification that bans manufacture, possession, sale, use etc of harmful firecrackers that contain “sulphur or sulphurate in admixture with any chlorate” and do not prescribe to authorised sound emission.

Delhi Environment Minister Imran Hussain, who reviewed the steps to control air and noise pollution, also put in place an action plan for controlling air and noise pollution, which includes, restriction on licenses for sale of fireworks

Apart form launching a public awareness campaign, the government also decide to set up inspection teams comprising of area SDMs and executive engineers to check availability of imported fire crackers in the market.

Officers from the licensing unit will check godowns randomly for availability of imported firecrackers in the market, an official release said.

As per reports, pollution levels in Delhi had reached “alarming” levels pre-Diwali in November with the hazardousPM10 particulates rising to 2,000 micrograms per cubic metre.

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