Diwali will be an imminent challenge for Mumbai, a city that is struggling with consistently bad air quality. Though a noticeable change in consumer behaviour has been observed this year since there has been a 20% drop in firecracker sales compared to 2022.
This suggests that people are becoming more conscious of the negative effects that crackers have on air and noise pollution.
A huge amount of stock is not sold yet and is stored in their godowns. On green crackers, they are saying the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) has come up with green crackers but they are hardly seen in stores. Very few consumers are interested in buying green crackers.
Speaking with Mumbai Live team, owner of Kumar Crackers, a firecrackers shop in Andheri said, "The sales are going a little down. Even Supreme Court has banned the crackers, but where will people like us go? We earn our livelihood during these 15 to 20 days of festival."
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The business owners are stating that if the ban was imposed earlier and it they had time they might make some changes and would have sold other goods to save themselves from losses.
He further added, "I don’t have problem with the decision of the court but i have problem with the timing to announce it. If this decision was taken 4-5 months ago, we could have shifted our focus on selling something else. Today, people are afraid that if they are seen with the crackers, they will be heavily fined and hence, they are not buying crackers. Yes I agree the environment should be protected but why only on Diwali? Why not ban the crackers for whole year? It shows the clear hypocrisy of government and people who won’t allow or use crackers for 5 days but then will pollute the environment by going in weddings with their polluting cars and lighting up the crackers there. There are many other sources of pollution which remains untouched by government but crackers during diwali will be banned."
However, this reduction is not going to be sufficient to maintain the existing Air Quality Index (AQI) and is likely to make the air quality worse throughout the festival. In spite of the decline in sales, there isn't any discernible trend in Mumbai's firecracker retail stores towards eco-friendly or green crackers. Such substitutes could be introduced to decrease pollution.
On November 6, the Bombay High Court (HC) issued permission to burst firecrackers for three hours between 7 pm to 10 pm on the occasion of Diwali. In a Suo Motu Public Interest Litigation (PIL) concerning the declining quality of the air in Mumbai, a division bench consisting of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Girish Kulkarni issued numerous directives requiring prompt attention to the air quality index.
Mumbai wakes up to smog-filled air amid suffocating conditions and an already declining air quality index. The capital of Maharashtra has been experiencing foggy mornings for the past few weeks due to the city's declining air quality brought on by an increase in pollution.
The citizens can experience a slight relief from poor AQI and heat owing to unseasonal and unexpected rains since the past two days.
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