New Delhi: In a bid to resolve the crisis of air pollution, the Government on Saturday launched green firecrackers.Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan announced in a Press Conference in New Delhi,that Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) labs have been successful in developing various environment-friendly fireworks such as sound emitting crackers, flowerpots, pencils, chakkar and sparklers. He further pointed out that these fireworks, based on new formulations developed by CSIR, have been manufactured and are available in the Indian market for consumers and sellers.
He further informed that due to the ban that had been imposed as per the orders of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, there was a threat of imminent closure of the entire fireworks industry. However, Science has once again come to the rescue of the common man and millions of jobs have been saved due to the interventions made by our scientists.
Harsh Vardhan said, “I am very happy that on one hand we would be using eco-friendly crackers this Deepawali, and, on the other hand our traditional festival celebrations with lights and fire crackers shall remain intact. Millions of homes which are dependent on sale and manufacture of fireworks will also rejoice this festival, thanks to our scientists!”
The Minister also highlighted that the emissions testing facilities for the new fire crackers have been set up at CSIR-NEERI as well as their approved National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration (NABL) facilities whose list is available at CSIR NEERI website. Further, a Raw Materials Compositional Analysis (RACE) facility has been launched in Sivakasi to facilitate manufacturers for testing their raw materials and chemicals. About 530 emissions testing certificates have been issued to fireworks manufactures for new and improved formulations meeting the stipulated guidelines of green crackers.
To develop reduced emission/green fireworks, eight labs participated,CSIR-NEERI, CEERI, IITR, IICT, NCL, CECRI, NBRI and CMERI, with CSIR NEERI coordinating the entire exercise.
During the press conference, the Minister launched the green crackers manufactured by licensee-manufacturers. He also informed that a green logo as well as a Quick Response (QR) coding system has been developed for differentiation of green crackers from conventional crackers. QR codes is a novel feature incorporated on the fire crackers to avoid manufacture and sale of counterfeit products. This will also help the consumers to track the cracker using smart phones and other devices. Harsh Vardhan also indicated that the cost of the green crackers is almost same as that of regular crackers.
It is noteworthy to mention that Harsh Vardhan had, in 2018, exhorted the Indian scientific community to initiate R&D on environment-friendly fireworks. This was done to address not only the environmental concerns arising from use of existing fireworks but also protect the livelihoods of millions of people engaged in manufacture and sale of fireworks across the country.
