The apex court had banned manufacturing of polluting firecrackers and ruled that only green crackers with reduced emission will be allowed to be sold in the country in order to control the pollution level. The court passed the order after the Centre had suggested that emission level in crackers could be reduced by changing the chemical composition and termed it green crackers.
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), which were entrusted with the task by the court to formulate the chemical composition of green crackers, told the apex court that trial samples have been developed and tested.
Based on an independent testing report of the chemical contents in 36 different kinds of firecrackers available in the market, Hirali Foundation, an NGO, has alleged that all of them were unsafe for human health as they contained hazardous and toxic chemicals, which also meant none of the crackers could be classified as 'green' at the moment.
