Two days ahead of Diwali, the Delhi police have beefed up security in the national capital. News agency ANI quoted DCP outer Delhi, Parvinder Singh, as saying that patrolling will be conducted in a number of congested areas across the city.
Apprising of the security arrangements during the Hindu festive season, the Delhi police threatened action against those who do not comply with the orders. Singh added that due to the ban on firecrackers, cases will be filed against those people found selling or bursting firecrackers.
Delhi | Patrolling will be done at several crowded places. We will file cases against those who would sell or burst crackers despite the ban: DCP outer Delhi, Parvinder Singh on security arrangements during festive season pic.twitter.com/lD2Gbgz7ra
— ANI (@ANI) November 2, 2021
Ahead of the festival, the Kejriwal-led government had imposed a complete ban on the sale and bursting of all forms of firecrackers till January 1, 2022, after which the Delhi Police initiated a crackdown on the sale and distribution of firecrackers this festive season.
The decision taken just weeks ahead of Diwali has wreaked havoc in the lives of small firecracker manufacturers and traders. Delhi firecracker traders had slammed the Kejriwal govt for again banning firecrackers during Diwali. Harjeet Singh Chabbra, General Secretary of Firecracker Association in Delhi’s Sadar Bazar, in an interview to a local news channel exclaimed: “If Diwali will not be celebrated in India then do we expect it to be celebrated in Pakistan?”
Lamenting at the reckless imposition of a ban on the sale of crackers, Chabbra added, “The government should instead ban the manufacturing of crackers so the question of selling crackers will not arise. They got us to manufacture green crackers by getting an order from the Supreme Court and now they have imposed a ban on those too.”
Not just Delhi, but even states like Odisha and Rajasthan have imposed a ban on the sale of firecrackers. Manufacturers in the firecracker town of Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu, which produces over 90 per cent of firecrackers in the country, have predicted a loss of around Rs 500 crore this year due to the ban in these states.
Besides Delhi, Noida authorities invoke section 144 ahead of Diwali
Besides, Delhi, authorities in Gautam Buddh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, have invoked Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which prohibits gatherings of four or more individuals in a public location. The ban was put in place on October 31 and will be in effect until November 30.
Section 144 imposed in Noida till Nov 30 in view of the festive mood
— Economic Times (@EconomicTimes) November 1, 2021
Track the day’s latest news updates here – https://t.co/mC5Yi9YoGv pic.twitter.com/CzsSySMVZX
OpIndia reported on November 1 how the Haryana Disaster Management Authority had also placed a blanket ban on all types of firecrackers under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) across the State’s 14 districts that fall within the NCR during the upcoming Diwali celebrations on November 4.
Prior to this, Jhunjhunu Police in Rajasthan also imposed section 144 during the upcoming Diwali celebrations but had to withdraw the same following outrage.
Supreme Court refuses a complete ban on firecrackers, sets aside Calcutta HC’s total ban in WB
It may be noted that yesterday, the Supreme Court of India has set aside the order of the Calcutta High Court imposing a complete ban on firecrackers in the state of West Bengal.
