RECENTLY, a man in Ghazipur area in New Delhi has been arrested by the police after his children were caught bursting crackers before Diwali, violating the order issued by the Supreme Court. Last week, the Court had directed a ban on the usage of firecrackers before Diwali across the country.
According to the reports, the neighbors of the man had objected to the bursting of crackers by his children, however, the children did not pay any attention to the neighbors’ warning which led them to lodge a complaint against them after which the police took the boy’s father into custody. The father is likely to be charged with imprisonment of six months or a heavy fine. The arrest was made to spread a message to the other residents in order to prevent them from buying and burning firecrackers.
The SC, in its order, had allowed the residents of the national capital region to burst crackers from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm on Diwali. Keeping in mind the weather condition that would hamper the air quality in the coming days or weeks due to bursting crackers, the central government and Delhi government are taking all the necessary measures to control the level of air pollution.
Recently, the report of the World Health Organization (WHO) had stated that over 16,000 children above the age of five years died due to air pollution in 2016. Measures such as Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), have been implemented to control the concentration of PM 2.5 to PM 10, which is a dangerous pollutant that would adversely affect the health of the citizens.