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Even as ban on firecrackers in Delhi literally went up in smoke, and a steady cacophony of explosions rattled neighbourhoods citywide from 6pm till well after midnight on Thursday – and then again in several parts of the city on Friday – the Delhi Police did precious little to stop the violations.
People burst firecrackers during Diwali festivities at Patel Nagar in New Delhi on Thursday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)
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When pressed by HT for details on any action taken against offenders, senior officers chose to remain silent. The police spokesperson and deputy commissioners across all 15 districts did not respond to multiple requests for comments, or even for data on enforcement (or the lack of it).
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But multiple resident welfare associations (RWAs) and market groups that HT spoke to said there was no intervention to quell the crisis on Thursday or Friday, and calls to police went either unanswered or unheeded.
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“It was as if no one in authority cared!” said one RWA representative, asking not to be named.
Leading up to Diwali, people said the easy availability of firecrackers, both in Delhi and across the border in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, had already given a sign of things to come.
“We could hear firecrackers all through the evening. Especially from around 7pm to 11pm, firecrackers were burst in huge numbers, and several residents complained, but nothing can be done on Diwali night. The firecrackers were easily available in the past few days. If the agencies were actually serious about enforcement, they should have controlled sales earlier, but there was no checking,” said Sanjeev Kapoor, general secretary of the Karol Bagh market association.
Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai had on September 9, announced a complete ban on sale, supply and use of firecrackers in the national capital till January 1, 2025. However, the ban was formally notified more than a month later (on October 14). Two police officers, who asked not to be identified, claimed that the delay in issuing the notification possibly helped people buy and store firecrackers in advance.
To be sure, the Supreme Court in 2018 banned all types of firecrackers in the Capital. While it was lifted partly to allow for so-called green crackers in other metropolitan cities, the complete ban stayed for Delhi-NCR.
Firecrackers were heard around Delhi on Dussehra, Karwa Chauth, and even the day before Diwali, and activist Bhavreen Kandhari, part of the citizens’ group Warrior Moms said they wrote a letter to the Delhi Police on October 28 seeking strict enforcement of the ban.
The letter mentioned calls were made even before Diwali, but to no avail.
“Despite the ban on crackers in Delhi, one couldn’t miss the huge number of violations and a flood of complaints, yet calling the police proved largely ineffective. Limited number of personnel and the overwhelming number of incidents made enforcing the ban unmanageable,” said the letter.
Kandhari said she did not make a call on Diwali night, knowing nothing would be done. “I have made calls in the last few years too, but the police show no interest in taking action,” she said.
When HT reporters called the Delhi Police’s emergency number 112 on Diwali night, no action was taken on the ground. In Janakpuri, for instance, the police asked the reporter for the exact area where firecrackers were being burst. But no follow-up call was made, and firecrackers continued till 3am.
“Two cases were registered at the New Friends Colony police station following complaints regarding bursting of firecrackers near Mathura Road and Taimoor Nagar neighbourhood after the violators were caught,” said an officer from the southeast police district when asked out about the bursting of firecrackers in a police colony right behind to the police station.
Meanwhile, an officer from the Dwarka police district said 12 first information reports (FIRs) were registered at different police stations of the district for firecrackers bursting on Thursday.
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