Guwahati Commissioner of Police Diganta Barah has appealed the people of Guwahati to celebrate the festival of lights ‘Diwali’ and Kali Puja with pomp and gaiety and at the same time also follow all rules set by the administration.
Addressing a press conference in Guwahati on Thursday, Diganta Barah stated that anyone found disobeying the set guidelines for the upcoming festivals will be dealt with strictly.
Barah said, “I believe that the people of Guwahati will celebrate the festivals enthusiastically. At the same time, I also hope that all people follow all the rules that have been laid out by the honourable Supreme Court and Kamrup district administration.”
The Guwahati Commissioner of Police further elaborated on the green crackers and ways to identify them while buying.
He said, “The Supreme Court has banned the bursting and sale of all kinds of crackers containing barium nitrate and has allowed the use of only green crackers. The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) has defined green crackers as firecrackers made with reduced shell size, without the use of ash and low use of raw materials and do not include aluminium, barium, potassium nitrate or carbon.”
“In order to identify green crackers, customers need to check the CSIP and NEERI logo on the fire cracker packaging, labelled in green colour. I request everyone to check the NEERI sticker and logo before purchasing crackers this year,” he added.
Notably, the crackers which fall under the ‘green’ category are flower pots, pencils, sparkles, chakkars and bombs; and those whose noise level is below 125db.
Further, he also spoke on the process of procuring these crackers by the shop owners.
Regarding this, he said, “All shop owners selling fire crackers need to get permission from the district DCPs of Guwahati. There are three police districts in Guwahati. They are Dispur East, Dispur Central and Dispur West. Shop owners have to get permission from these three DCP offices in the city before selling fire crackers.”
He further appealed all people to restrict the bursting of crackers at silent zones of the city. He also asked people to burst crackers only in between the given time frame, from 8 pm to 10 pm.
