SC tells all states to curb crackers

A celebration by polluting environment is all about being “selfish”, the Supreme Court observed on Tuesday, directing all states and Union Territories to comply with its orders of imposing curbs on bursting firecrackers during Diwali and at other times of the year.

- Utkarsh Anand

Lamenting that a complete ban on bursting firecrackers is incapable to be implemented until people take it upon themselves to stop using firecrackers, a bench of justices AS Bopanna and MM Sundresh maintained that “sensitivising people is the key”, adding that pollution will not end even by limiting fireworks to a certain time.

“They will burst whatever they have bought...There is a wrong perception that it is only the duty of the court when it comes to environmental matters. It is for everyone to manage air and sound pollution,” said the bench, as it dealt with an application seeking directives to the Rajasthan government and the state pollution control board to take immediate steps to reduce air and sound pollution in Udaipur.