Ahead of Deepavali celebrations, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) said that there are no changes in the timings for bursting crackers across the state. Last year, the government said that bursting crackers is allowed only between 6 am and 7 am and between 7 pm and 8 pm. This is in line with the Supreme Court judgment on the sale of crackers in 2018 and the same restrictions have been in place since 2019.
The Court also said that only licensed vendors would be allowed to sell firecrackers and that e-commerce websites would not be allowed to do so. The judgment added that the local police stations will be responsible for enforcing these orders and if unlicensed firecrackers are found to be sold in the areas of their jurisdiction, the officers will be held liable.
In 2020, the TNPCB said that people have to obtain prior permission for bursting crackers in open spaces as a community. Permission had to be sought from local civic bodies through residential associations. In the same year, the TNCB said that bursting crackers in places like hospitals, places of worship and places prone to fire accidents like slums must be avoided.
The TNPCB also said that it would study the air quality seven days before and after the festival in all the corporation limits to closely monitor and keep a strict tab on the after-effects of bursting crackers on Deepavali.
There was also a campaign by a group of mothers called ‘Warrior Moms’ urging people to give up bursting crackers altogether on Deepavali. Their campaign in 2020 called #DhoomDhamakaWithoutPatakha gained support from a lot of people including filmmaker V Priya, Dr Arvind Kumar of Lung Care Foundation and Doctors for Clean Air, among others.