India’s Supreme Court has discontinued the selling of firecrackers in the capital, Delhi, and directed authorities to analyze their “harmful effects”.
Environmentalists had petitioned the court following a sudden rise in air pollution in the city, after enormous quantities of fireworks were set off in October during Diwali celebrations.
Diwali is the most important Hindu festival in north India.
Delhi, with 16 million people, is one of the most polluted cities in the world’s.
The court also directed pollution control authorities to “examine dangerous effects of substances utilized in firecrackers in three months”.
Pollution in Delhi grown to nearly 10 times the safe level next year’s Diwali parties, causing panic and outrage.
Residents woke from a night of colourful fireworks to get the city covered in a thick grey blanket of smog.
There have been several efforts in the past asking people to use fewer fireworks through the festival, but these haven’t been met with much success.
