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Kolkata, once known as a ‘model city’ for controlling the menace of fireworks, witnessed large scale violations even before Diwali day arrived this year.
Pockets of the city had a blast on October 19 evening, more than 24 hours before the Supreme Court directed two-hour deadline from 8 pm on Diwali day starts to roll out. Incidentally, in context to a hearing, the Calcutta High Court had recently also asked the West Bengal administration to ensure strict compliance of the timeline. The state pollution control board admitted that they received a few complaints regarding fireworks on October 19 evening, a testimony to the trend.
“In the state of West Bengal only green crackers can be sold and bursting of such crackers shall be allowed for … two hours during Deepawali festival from 8 pm to 10 pm …” reads the order issued by the member secretary of the state pollution control board on October 18. A copy of the same has been forwarded to both the Kolkata police commissioner as well as West Bengal’s director general of police.
“Such an order was issued just as a response to the court order. But on the ground, the police and rest of the administration are hardly active enough to implement the court directive,” alleged Naba Dutta, secretary of state environmental platform Sabuj Mancha.
“Almost all the fireworks units approved by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), got licences from district magistrates under political influence in West Bengal and are hardly being monitored. This opens up the possibility of violations,” claimed a green activist.
This correspondent travelled through the length and breadth of Kolkata since October 18, including at government-supported Bazi bazars (fireworks markets) and found a range of violations in the quality of fireworks.
“As per government norms, enjoy fireworks in between 6 am and 10 pm” was found to be printed on a box of fireworks claimed to have been cleared by NEERI, the nodal agency selected by the apex court to approve green fireworks formulation. This was in complete contrast to the apex court and government directive.
“All fireworks sold here are among the 1,403 approved in the list shared by NEERI on its website,” claimed the organisers of Bazi bazars in the Burrabazar and Talla Park neighbourhoods to this correspondent. These two are major government-supported fireworks markets in Kolkata and consist of close to 150 stalls combined.
Sudipta Bhattacharya, an environmental technocrat who accompanied this correspondent, listed major violations found in the Bazi bazars.
“Hardly 10 per cent of fireworks were found to have valid NEERI certificates. While many do not have any QR codes, in many other cases the QR codes either do not open up or show expired certificates. In some fireworks, the QR codes are directing to either YouTube or other websites,” said Bhattacharya.
The environment expert further pointed out that most fireworks do not have chemical compositions written over the packets. Nothing is also written about the noise level of the fireworks. Incidentally, according to Union government norms, no fireworks should cross the 125-decibel noise level when measured four metres from the source of blasting.
“Our area has a lot of poor people, and they cannot afford the costly fireworks of Sivakasi. They generally opt for local varieties which are not cleared by NEERI,” admitted a representative of the Kalikapur Bazi bazar when it was pointed out that several of the fireworks being displayed do not have any company’s name printed on them.
The West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB), which earlier monitored the fireworks markets alongside NEERI and the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (a Union government body), complained that the Union government agencies have not cooperated this year.
“We tried to undertake joint visits also this year but NEERI and PESO hardly responded,” stated a senior official of WBPCB. NEERI and PESO sources, without wanting to be quoted, cited both a lack of personnel and mandate to undertake such monitoring. “We earlier undertook such joint monitoring under court orders and cannot repeat it unless we receive a specific judicial directive or being asked by our head office,” said the source.
The WBPCB also reminded that NEERI has not taken the initiative to test green fireworks in West Bengal. This is despite a state-of-the-art facility having been created by the Board under mutual agreement that NEERI would start testing here once WBPCB sets up such infrastructure.
“Both state and Union government agencies are responsible for the fireworks violations in West Bengal. While illegal fireworks from Sivakasi are flooding the market with Union government agencies looking the other way, the state government is also responsible for not enforcing norms and allowing district magistrates to provide production licences without virtually any monitoring under political pressure,” observed Biswajit Mukherjee, former chief law officer of WBPCB.
According to the NEERI list, almost 99 per cent of around 230 production licences were provided by district magistrates while only three had been given by PESO and Union government agencies. As per law, district magistrates can provide licences to units manufacturing not more than 15 kilograms of fireworks at a time.
“It’s a faulty list. According to our estimates, around 30 to 40 units across the state have received district magistrate licences,” pointed out an environment department official.
“The licences from the state may be shown as close to 230. But most fireworks sold in the Bazi bazars are from Sivakasi,” agreed Subhankar Manna from Talla Park Bazi bazar.