Hyderabad: Firecracker sales are on the upswing in the city, but no one is selling ‘green firecrackers’ as they are not going to make it to the city for Diwali. The green firecrackers are only for New Delhi, said traders as there is high level of pollution in the capital.
The guidelines for manufacturing green firecrackers were given on October 5 this year and manufacturing the fireworks as per the new standards would take a few more months. There are only 1,000 manufacturers who have been given the formula. The remaining have not been given as the CSIR has applied for a patent.
“The crackers that were produced in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, as per the new norms are moving to the northern part of the country. Since it is already facing problems due to heavy air pollution, the demand for these kinds of crackers is higher over there,” Manik Rao, a member of the Telangana fire crackers dealers’ association, told Deccan Chronicle.
Green firecrackers are made of chemicals that result in lesser pollutants upon combustion and also produce comparatively lesser fumes.
While traders were unaware of these norms until January this year, the lack of supplies this year will make way for a eardrum-obliterating, noxious gas-filled Diwali for Hyderabad.
The norms laid down by the ministry of health and family welfare earlier this month state that for immediate relief, the CSIR-NEERI developed improvements in conventional formulations based on barium nitrate meet the stipulated norms of green crackers. The implementation of these formulations is subject to the approval of Supreme Court of India. CSIR-NEERI has also developed new formulations for reduced emission light and sound-emitting crackers with 30 per cent reduction in particulate matter.
These crackers would be marked with a Quick Read (QR) code, which they can scan using a smart phone, to check their pollutant levels.
“Whatever the science, the people who make the crackers are unaware of these chemicals. They have been making crackers using the conventional method for decades. So, now, it is very unlikely that we will see green crackers being made on a large scale.”
