- Penalise those who violate the ban
- Fear of further spread of Covid-19 during festival
Hyderabad: Telangana High court on Thursday asked the State government to ban sale and bursting of crackers for Diwali. It also directed the government to give wide publicity about ban through print and electronic media. The order came after PIL was filed by HC lawyer Prakash in public interest keeping in view Covid pandemic.
State government should take steps to shutdown the shops with immediate effect and if anyone is found violating rules, he should be penalised, said High Court. Government came up with an argument that it was following guidelines of NGT on bursting of crackers. But court felt that bursting of fireworks, sale of it may further lead to spread of virus pandemic as people many not follow social distancing while celebrating.
Petitioner Prakash filed a PIL which reads that pollution of firecrackers leads to spread of Covid threat and people who are affected may die due to air pollution. PIL also reads that children and senior citizens are more vulnerable to Covid due to the smoke of fireworks and most importantly the sanitizers being used are inflammatory and even a small spark could lead to fire accidents. Petitioner stressed that maintaining social distancing during festival celebrations is not at all possible.
Next hearing was posted for Nov 19th by HC asking the government to file a report on measures taken for ban and penalties on those who violated the order. Petitioner Prakash clarified that the ban petition is only for the present year in view of Covid pandemic.
