The Delhi government announced on Monday it will approach the Supreme Court seeking permission to allow green firecrackers on Diwali this year, seeking to revive a policy that failed miserably between 2018 and 2020 when enforcement proved impossible and air quality gains were negligible, if not entirely missing.
Chief minister Rekha Gupta, speaking at the Delhi secretariat, said the government would request the court permit "certified green firecrackers" to balance "public sentiments and environmental protection." The move comes despite overwhelming evidence that distinguishing green from conventional firecrackers is practically impossible and that pollution reduction from green variants remains minimal.
Delhi's firecracker policy has oscillated for years. A comprehensive ban was first implemented in 2017 following a Supreme Court inquiry. The court allowed green firecrackers in 2018, but the government imposed annual blanket bans during winter from 2020 onward after enforcement collapsed. Each year, Delhi has widely flouted the ban, with law enforcement failing to act and air quality plummeting the day after Diwali.
Delhi environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa defended the move, saying green firecrackers are less polluting and will only be burst on a single day for a few hours. "Diwali is an important festival for Hindus where firecrackers are burst for a single day," Sirsa said. "The CM believes the way the entire country celebrates the festival, Delhiites should be able to do the same."
Sirsa said the government was prepared to regulate conventional firecrackers and allow only green crackers if permitted. "Teams will be deployed accordingly," he added.
In its submission to the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, the Delhi government stated it has no objection to firecracker use. The government views green crackers in "regulated and time bound manner" supported with robust enforcement as a "more pragmatic solution," claiming blanket bans have not yielded desired outcomes.
The Supreme Court asked the Union environment ministry for Delhi's stance on firecracker bursting. The government will share its position during the next hearing on October 8.
A misnomer
Green firecrackers, developed by CSIR-NEERI following the 2018 Supreme Court order, replace barium nitrate with zeolites, reduce aluminum content, and add dust suppressants. CSIR-NEERI claims these modifications cut emissions by 30-35% compared to traditional crackers.
The pollution reduction, however, are still negligible, experts say. Green firecrackers still emit 65-70% of traditional cracker pollution, producing substantial particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. When millions of crackers are burst, a 30% per-unit reduction means little.
"Even when we knew people were not using green crackers, the police said they couldn't tell the difference," said environmental activist Bhavreen Kandhari.
A former police official laid out the challenge in enforcing the blanket ban and said cracking down on firecrackers that are not green will be even tougher.
"Firecrackers are sold openly in Delhi's adjoining cities like Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad. The illegal supply is a menace and it's very difficult for Delhi Police personnel to check each and every vehicle entering the city from multiple borders," said RA Sanjeev, former joint commissioner in Delhi Police who retired in 2022.
Against this backdrop, distinguishing what is green and what is not --- something CM Gupta assured will be done - is even more challenging.
Last year's Diwali demonstrated repeated policy failures in addressing the air pollution problem in India's Capital city, which has the distinction of being among the most polluted in the world for several decades now.
Data from 40 monitoring stations recorded severe spikes in fine particulate matter from around 6pm, peaking between 11pm and 2am during last Diwali. Vivek Vihar in East Delhi, for instance, recorded 1,853 micrograms per cubic meter at midnight -- more than 120 times the World Health Organization's safe limit of 15µg/m³. Nearby Patparganj reached 1,504, and Nehru Nagar in South Delhi touched 1,527.
PM2.5 are ultrafine particles that lodge deep into the respiratory tract and lungs, causing both short-term and long-term respiratory problems.
Gupta, posting on X, said the government remained "fully committed to environmental protection and pollution control." "Hon'ble Supreme Court will be assured that the Delhi government will fully comply with all guidelines and standards of the court," she wrote. "Our objective is -- a Diwali sparkling with joy, along with a clean and safe environment."