Kolkata police amps up inspection on firecracker shops ahead of Deepawali

Kolkata Police ensures only green crackers sold during Deepawali, conducting inspections and taking legal action against violators.

Kolkata Police increased vigil around the city to ensure that only green crackers are sold during the upcoming Deepawali festivities. Commissioner of Kolkata Police Manoj Kumar Verma visited the Baji Bazar (firecracker) market in Esplanade area in the heart of the city to inspect the standard of the crackers.

Mr Verma along with other police officials went to several shops and scanned the barcode on crackers to ensure they were ‘green cracker’ certified. They also inspected for any illegal fireworks and local uncertified products to ensure all shopkeepers abide by the rules set in place to reduce pollution and control air quality.

While visiting the market on October 29, Tuesday, Mr Verma told the media, “We have given instructions to all sellers to sell only permitted firecrackers. Concerned authorities have given us a list of 500 manufacturers who are permitted to manufacture the low pollution green cracker.” He further stated that the list has been circulated among sellers and police departments to ensure constant check and compliance.

“Anything which does not have a certificate, we will take legal action against them. Some seizures have already been made, some people have been arrested and we have instructed our team to conduct inspections at regular intervals so that illegal firecrackers do not enter the market,” said the CP while speaking to PTI.

The firecracker market, which will be open for five days, has several police and fire department officials posted at every corner to ensure vigilance in case of any unforeseen situation.

Rohit Gupta, a firecracker shop owner at one of the shops in this market told The Hindu, “You can scan every single box in our store, we have certificates for all because they are all legal green crackers. We get all our products from Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu and sell only legal products because our brand is very old, and we have a reputation to maintain.”

Green crackers are ones that are low on smoke and have no barium compounds. Barium compounds usage in crackers is banned by the Supreme Court of India for safety and environmental purposes and selling them is illegal.