The Delhi government on Friday directed all district magistrates and deputy commissioners of police to implement the blanket ban on firecrackers from November 7 to November 30. “There will be a complete ban on the bursting and sale of all kinds of firecrackers from November 7 to November 30 in the Union Territory of Delhi,” a Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) order said. “The district magistrates and deputy commissioners of police should implement the directions. Daily action taken reports are required to be submitted to the Delhi Pollution Control Committee,” it read.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had on Thursday announced the ban in view of a spike in new COVID-19 cases amid rising pollution levels. “The city is reeling under the third peak of the COVID-19 outbreak. Largescale celebrations by bursting of firecrackers will result not only in agglomeration of people, in violation of social distancing norms, but also high levels of air pollution,” the order read.
Given the significant relationship between air pollution and respiratory infections, bursting of firecrackers is not favourable ‘for the large cause of community health’, it said. The national capital’s air quality remained ‘severe’ for the second consecutive day on Friday.
Experts said while meteorological conditions were ‘moderately’ favourable for dispersion of pollutants, a ‘very high’ number of farm fires in Punjab was the primary reason for ‘severe’ air quality on Friday. The city’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 406. On Thursday, it was 450, the highest since November 15 last year, when it was 458.