Diwali is unlikely to be any less noisy here this year.
A Supreme Court order promoting low-decibel crackers notwithstanding, vendors have stocked up items that promise to be deafening while buyers, mostly youngsters, seem unable to resist the pull of ear-splitting sounds.
Dhruv Sharma, a Class V student of DBMS English School, said he knew the consequences of loud firecrackers, but in the same breath added that Diwali didn’t feel like Diwali if he couldn’t burst a chocolate bomb. “I have though bought sparklers, fountains and pin-wheels,” he said after the cracker mart on Aambagan grounds in Sakchi opened on Sunday.
Abhishek Sanyal, a student of Arka Jain University, was more assertive. “It is not possible to control the urge of bursting crackers. It is just for a day and there is a time window too. I am definitely bursting a few bombs,” he said.
Vendors in Sakchi and on G-Town grounds in Bistupur were seen selling ladis or chain firecrackers, which are banned by the apex court. Most packets did not have the decibel level mentioned.
“We have rockets, ladis and anars in our collection. The SC ruling (on low-emission, low-decibel crackers) came after we had placed orders. We have to clear stocks. The total ban must begin in factories that make these crackers. We have to follow public demand,” said Virendra Prasad, a seller at Aambagan.
Kumar Viren, a seller in Bistupur, echoed him. “We sell what people want. Awareness programmes are needed to ban noisy crackers. Restrictions must be imposed on manufacturing units as well. I doubt if police can do anything about it. They can’t stand in every alley,” he said.
According to Environment Protection Rules, 1986, manufacture, sale and use of firecrackers generating noise more than 125dB at a distance of four metres from the point of bursting is prohibited. The crackers up for grabs, according to experts, have a noise range of 90dB to 149dB. These include double sound (dodoma), chocolate bombs and ‘atom’ bombs.
More than 600 licensed vendors have set up shops across 13 marts in Jamshedpur, including Sakchi-Aambagan, G-Town-Bistupur, Kadma Ganesh Puja Maidan and Sabuj Kalyan Sangha in Telco.
East Singhbhum district arms magistrate Ranjana Mishra said a three-member monitoring committee, led by Dhalbhum SDO Chandan Kumar, had been formed. “Monitoring will start from tomorrow (Monday) and if anyone is violating rules, action will be taken,” she said.