Firecrackers smuggled in from outside Delhi NCR during Diwali cause more damage than green crackers, the Supreme Court said today, while allowing the bursting of green crackers in Delhi between October 20 and 21.
"We are called upon to balance the interests of both the industry and the health of the general public, especially the aged, the ill and the infants on whom the debilitating effect of pollution would be more pronounced. Sadly, it is the rampant use by the general public, without awareness of its ill effects that causes the problem," the court said in its order.