India hopes ‘green’ fireworks, light show dim Diwali impact

India hopes to temper environmental dam from its biggest annual holiday on Sunday with low-emission firecrackers and light shows, but plan’s uneven rollout has hurt some businesses and proven difficult to enforce.

Diwali, Hindu festival of lights, is typically celebrated by setting off firecrackers late into night with friends and family, compounding alrey-hazardous air quality levels in rrn India as farmers illegally burn crop stubble to clear fields.

In response to a petition filed on behalf of three infants, India’s Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in October 2018 that banned conventional firecrackers and enforced a two-hour limit for setting m off — an order that many people flouted last year, contributing to toxic smog blanketing New Delhi following day.

This year, firecracker sellers say business has dropped significantly.

“My business has been hit a lot, it’s down by about 70%,” said Dhanraj Jain, who has been selling firecrackers in Old Delhi for eight years. He said “green” crackers cost as much as double price of conventional ones.

“ situation is so b that I don’t even feel like speaking to my customers,” he said. “I’m having a tough time explaining to m why crackers this year are more expensive and less in variety.”

Firecracker manufacturing in Sivakasi, industry’s major production hub in souastern India, was on hold for four months over past year as manufacturers figured out how to create compliant crackers, Press Trust of India news ncy reported.

“Green” firecrackers, indicated by a green logo and a special QR code, emit 30% fewer emissions than tritional ones and don’t contain arsenic or le, according to government-funded Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

council oversaw eight different laboratories in developing m after last year’s Supreme Court ruling, said Rakesh Kumar, director of National Environmental Engineering Research Institute in Nagpur, India.

“We thought, let’s be conservative and achieve a 30% reduction this year, and next year we can try for more,” he said.

“I agree with some of sellers that whole project started a bit late this year, but I think it will get straightened out as we go along,” Kumar said.

By early October, nearly 165 firecracker manufacturers across India h been certified to manufacture “green” crackers, according to PTI. During a recent trip to Old Delhi, nearly every stall selling fireworks prominently displayed signs that said, “We are t selling banned firecrackers.”

But a black market in conventional crackers continues on margins. Just this week, police seized thousands of kilograms (pounds) of banned firecrackers in state of West Bengal and Delhi, according to PTI.

In Delhi, one of world’s most polluted cities, months from October until February are characterized by chronically hazardous air quality. “green” crackers include ingredients that help form water vapor after y are used, which helps particles settle faster in atmosphere, according to Kumar.

Ar measure to encour a lower-pollution Diwali is Delhi government’s four-day “mega laser show” in a central area of capital.

“I’ve been (exploding firecrackers) since my childhood, so I reckon that my children should also be allowed to do same thing,” said Yash Bhan Singh, 35, a software developer from a Delhi suburb who was buying “green” firecrackers in Old Delhi. “But invative things like laser show and green crackers, we are looking forward to that as well,” he said.

culture shift around Diwali and environment has happened within last five years, said Rumi Aijaz, a lifelong Delhi resident and urban policy researcher at Observer Research Foundation.

He said such restrictions can really make a difference.

“Because number of people involved is in millions, and it comes at a critical period in pollution season, se measures can le to a substantial increase in air quality,” he said.