The court reiterated its 23 October, 2018 order, banning the use of Barium as an oxidiser in the production of crackers across the country.
Published Sep 22, 2023 | 4:42 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 22, 2023 | 4:44 PM
Woman making firecrackers in Sivakasi. (Creative Commons)
In a move which would negatively impact the firecracker hub at Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court on Friday, 22 September, rejected a plea by firecracker manufacturers challenging the total ban on the sale of green as well as other variants of firecrackers in the national capital, Delhi.
It also reiterated the directions issued in its 23 October, 2018, order banning the use of barium as an oxidiser in the production of crackers across the country.
While banning of the sale of even green firecrackers in the national capital, a bench of Justice AS Bopanna and Justice MM Sundresh directed the authorities to enforce the directions issued earlier by the top court.
The bench also refused the cracker manufacturers’ plea for the production of joint firecrackers.
The Supreme Court had on 14 September reserved orders on a plea seeking curbs on the illegal manufacture and sale of banned firecrackers. The top court had also directed the Delhi police to effectively enforce the ban.
The apex court also directed them to target the sources of such firecrackers instead of picking on small retailers and those bursting firecrackers.
The hearing had seen the government — the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) — apprising the court about the efforts it has made to rein in the “unregulated” firecracker industry, which, it said, is now being “transformed into a law-abiding industry”.
“It would be prudent to mention … that with the efforts of the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, an unregulated industry is now being transformed into a law-abiding industry,” said the affidavit filed by the MoEF&CC before the top court.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the MoEF&CC, gave the details of the steps taken so far, for the enforcement of quality control in the firecracker industry.
ASG Bhati said that a RACE facility — raw material, composition, emission, testing facility — has been set up in Sivakasi, the largest firecracker-manufacturing centre in the country, for the regular and random testing of the firecrackers to enforce compliance with green norms.
The RACE, ASG Bhati told the bench, would undertake testing involving the purity of the raw material/chemicals used in fireworks, testing of the composition of formulation in fireworks and the testing of emission and sound therefrom, digital quality control, (including usage of green logo and QR code), skill training programme.
ASG told the court that MoEF&CC was working with the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO), and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
She said that firecrackers with 30 percent less emission of particulate matter were being manufactured by the firework manufacturers.
She said that CSIR-NEERI and the firework manufacturers were jointly working to achieve 40 to 50 percent or 35 to 40 percent reduction in the emission of particulate matter.
One more such facility has been set up in Nagpur, the court was informed.
The bench was also told about the mechanism that has been put in place for enforcing these norms and imposing penalties on the violators, including suspension/cancellation of licences for manufacturing fireworks.
The firecracker manufacturers who were seeking the relaxation of the 23 October, 2018, ban order told the court that the world over there was no ban on using barium in the chemical composition of the firecrackers.
The bench was told that when the top court banned the use of barium as an oxidiser in the firecrackers, there was no scientific study backing its stated harmful effects. They contended that the ban in 2018 was for the time being and not for perpetuity.
The cracker manufacturers had told the court: “Barium nitrate is used the world over and there is no alternative. No country has banned barium nitrate, including the US, which has banned some salts from being used.”
The cracker manufacturers had said that barium was being used in reduced quantality even in the “green firecrackers” produced by the CSIR-NEERI with a 30 percent reduced emission level. The top court orders of 12 September, 2017, 23 October, 2018, 5 March, 2019, and 6 December, 2019, were referred to drive home their point.
Barium is used in crackers to produce green colour in fireworks. It also acts as a stabilising agent to give firecrackers a longer shelf-life. Besides barium, potassium nitrate, aluminium chips and powder are also used.
However, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who appeared for the petitioner Arjun Gopal, had said that a small firecracker with barium emitted 65,000 particulate matter and even if emission was reduced by 25-30 percent, the amount of emission would still be huge.
He said though there was a ban on the firecrackers in the national capital they were being sold under the nose of authorities.
