Deepavali firecrackers for just two hours

CHENNAI: Restricting the time for lighting firecrackers to just two hours – 6 to 7 am and 7 to 8 pm – as in the previous years, the State government has exhorted the people to celebrate Deepavali, which falls this year on October 24, as a festival of light in an environment friendly manner rather than bursting noise and smoke emitting crackers.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, in a press release on Monday, came out with a set of do’s and don’ts on the bursting of crackers and made a sincere appeal to the people to celebrate a noiseless, smoke free and safe Deepavali with families, relatives, friends and neighbours.

Among the do’s are going for green crackers that are less polluting and low sound generating and lighting them as community in a common place with the permission of district administration or local bodies through the local welfare association.

The don’ts include avoiding joined (series) crackers that made a huge noise, bursting them in silent areas like hospitals, schools, courts and religious places and near huts and fire prone areas.

It said that bursting fire crackers had severely deleterious effects on the health of people, besides causing land, water and air pollution.