Illegal crackers flood Maidan fair
The government rules say that only firecracker packets with QR codes readable by CSIR-NEERI’s (National Environmental Engineering Research Institute) Green QR app contain authentic ‘green’ or environment-friendly firecrackers.
The norms followed a Supreme Court ban on the usage of barium salts in firecrackers and on its ruling that only NEERI-approved firecrackers be manufactured and sold throughout the country.
But the government’s norms have been openly flouted at this year’s Bazi Bazaar (Firecrackers Market) at the Maidan set up for Diwali. It is being held after three years because of the disruption in businesses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A random survey of the temporary Maidan market by a group of environmental activists found that most of the crackers being sold are illegal as they do not have valid QR codes.
Among the 20 ‘green’ crackers scanned, only one was recognised by the Green QR app. This was manufactured in Maheshtala in South 24 Parganas.
The other 19, mostly imported from the famous cracker hub of Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu, were found to have fraudulent QR codes (readable only by Google’s scanner) or even no QRs.
Among the packets with fraudulent QR codes were ones containing firecrackers nearing a 60 per cent concentration of barium nitrate, when the 2018 apex court ruling, which was reconfirmed in 2021, and the consequent government norm, completely bans its usage. Many of the fraudulent certificates generated had long-passed expiration dates; one even had the same dates of issue and expiry.
