SMOKE SENTIMENT CONTENTION

As the season of lights returns, the city stands at a crossroads between rekindled joy and the harsh reality of air pollution. The line between festivity and necessity blurs with the Supreme Court's nod to 'green' firecrackers, sparking controversy once again, reports

- TMS city team

LANTERNS, candles and fairy lights return to the city yet again with a question that divides the residents—will the smoke season make a comeback too? Somewhere between joy and judgement over the right to celebrate the festival of lights, the city battles worsening smog, fading sentiments and cultural nostalgia. After five years of bans and bitter debates, the Supreme Court has fuelled a spark allowing the use of “green” firecrackers under strict rules, short time slots, and the promise of environmental safety that only a few believe will hold.

With the air quality index (AQI) index hitting a new high every day, the decision lands when the city is already gasping for breath. The horizon blurs into a pale grey, and the familiar metallic tang of winter pollution hangs thick in the air, yet the echo of childhood memories forces its citizens to reclaim the almost lost tradition with the court’s nod.

The unmistakable itch of nostalgia defined by gunpowder and laughter overpowers the masks, warnings and emissions. However, critics argue that it is a legalised relapse, a dangerous indulgence in the name of culture.

Inside government offices, the move is being presented as a careful balance between the emotion-ecology and faith-future binaries. But, in hospitals, doctors are bracing for the inevitable: coughing children, wheezing elders and emergency wards filling faster than the city’s lungs can clear. Environmentalists warn that even “green” fireworks release 70 per cent of the same toxins that Delhi once tried to ban. Traders call it hope; lawyers call it hypocrisy.

Court’s verdict

The debate over green crackers is not new, but this year's ruling has reignited it with sharper urgency. On October 15, the Supreme Court permitted the sale and bursting of certified green firecrackers in Delhi and neighbouring regions under tightly regulated conditions.