Former Infosys CFO TV Mohandas Pai on Thursday hit out at the Delhi government for banning crackers during Diwali and called the move "draconian" and "totalitarian". He further added that pollution in Delhi is not caused by the bursting of crackers.
"Banning crackers is wrong," Pai wrote on X. "People can burst green crackers, you can stop highly polluting crackers. All do not agree, many are very upset at this draconian totalitarian move. Pollution is not caused there by crackers. See the data. Crackers are there for 3-4 days, pollution year around."
Former Delhi Chief Minister and AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal had on Wednesday asked Delhi residents to refrain from bursting firecrackers and light diyas on Diwali because it is a festival of lights and not firecrackers.
At a press conference, he said, “Even the Supreme Court and High Court say that in view of the pollution, we should not burst crackers; we should light diyas. This is the festival of lights and not fireworks. It is not as if we are doing a favour to anybody. Whatever pollution will happen, our children will suffer from it, so there is no Hindu-Muslim in this. Everyone’s life is important.”
Meanwhile, a recently released report from Centre for Science and Environment found that Delhi’s air quality deteriorated from “poor” to the “very poor” category even though stubble burning in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana was only responsible for 4.4 percent of the pollution load in the capital.
The non-governmental organisation found that vehicular emissions contributed to more than half of the pollution in Delhi. This was followed by residential burning at 13 percent, industry at 11 percent, and construction at 7 percent, among other sources.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
