Kolkata (West Bengal) [India] : In view of the increasing air pollution, West Bengal has decided to sell only green crackers with QR codes this Diwali.
Babla Roy, chairman of Sara Bangla, Aatishbaji Unnayan Samiti, told, “We have set up four main markets in Kolkata, which are at Tala, Maidan, Behala and Kalikapur. A total of 44 shops will be set up in Tala, 32 in Maidan, 21 in Behala and 21 in Kalikapur, all of which are permitted to sell green crackers.”
“Fire cracker market will open from November 6 to November 12, with hours ranging from 10 am to 10 pm,” he added.
He also said that crackers that are not labelled as green are illegal and totally banned.
Green crackers are defined by the CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR NEERI) as firecrackers with a smaller shell, no ash and/or additives such as dust suppressants to reduce emissions, especially particulate matter.
These crackers do not contain the barium compounds that give them their distinctive green colour.
Further, Roy said that due to several cracker blast incidents, the state government banned manufacturing crackers for at least three months. which, in turn, has hampered the cracker industry in Bengal.
“Due to this, crackers were not manufactured as per demand and only 40 per cent of the actual demand for green crackers was manufactured in Bengal this year, which is not enough for this festive season. So we decided to import green crackers from Sivakasi and the rest of the other states of India. 40 per cent green crackers are imported from Sivakasi, 20 per cent from across the country and the rest from Bengal manufacturers,” he added.
DCP Reserve Force Kolkata Police Abhishek Gupta said that “the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute has made a special QR code that indicates whether the crackers are environmentally friendly or not.”